Winners of European International Human-Powered Submarine Races
This year’s overall winner of the European International Submarine Races (eISR) was Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences, Germany, and the runner-up was the University of Michigan, U.S.
The École de Technologie Supérieure from Montreal, Canada, won the BMT Award for Innovation, and Rhein-Waal also took home the UKNEST Agility Award.
IMarEST and QinetiQ hosted eISR in July in Europe’s largest freshwater tank, QinetiQ’s Ocean Basin, at Haslar Marine Technology Park in Gosport, U.K.
The “human-powered submarine” race, which runs every other year, is in its 10th year and saw teams of students from the universities of Southampton and Warwick in the U.K. and universities from the U.S., Canada, Germany and Taiwan competing against each other.
Over two weeks, the teams design, build and race their underwater vehicles using pedal power to propel them as they navigate the challenging underwater slalom course. To win the competition, teams must demonstrate creativity and comprehensively document their work. Points are awarded for speed, maneuverability, reliability, endurance and perseverance. Especially important in the scoring is the team’s ability to rise to the unexpected challenges of the underwater environment.