A group of four University of West Florida electrical engineering and computer engineering students worked with the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City, Florida, on a RoboBoat kit to get more high school students interested and engaged in marine robotics.
Dr. Damion Dunlap, STEM Outreach Manager, Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, tapped into the knowledge of UWF Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering students in Fort Walton Beach and shared his vision for a kit for high school students, and one that could be used in competitions. Dunlap oversees STEM outreach to support the next generation of engineers.
“We decided that this project would be an amazing way to help high school students become more excited about STEM in an inexpensive and cost-effective way,” said Ashley Schnaible, who is a computer engineering student in her senior year. “This project gave us the opportunity to explore multiple ways of constructing a functioning RoboBoat kit using materials that students could obtain rather easily. It also gave our team the opportunity to be giant kids ourselves, having fun with the build, designing it essentially like a giant Lego set.”…