A group of Ohio high school students teamed up with the state to build a “culvert buggy,” offering a safer way to conduct critical infrastructure inspections.
The hydraulic inspection vehicle explorer will help maintain Washington County’s over 13,000 culverts. The device resembles a radio-controlled car, equipped with a camera and lights to maneuver around the underground structure.
The buggy will keep workers out of harm’s way, allowing them to remotely access washed out or debris-filled culverts. It also eliminates the need to alter traffic while conducting inspections.
The four Belpre High School members connected with the Ohio Department of Transportation when robotics teacher Jamey Erb spoke with the agency at a student job fair. She knew just the students for the project: seniors Christopher Boso and Adrik McLaughlin, junior Keegan Marsh and sophomore Jayden Haynes.
“I thought it would be a great opportunity for the kids to build them,” Erb told the Parkersburg News and Sentinel. “This is actually going to be used somewhere in the state of Ohio for the next district who asks for one of these.”
Chad Folmer, ODOT District 10 equipment manager and procurement officer, advised the students. He had designed a previous version of the buggy.
“I worked with the students on modifying some of the parts just to implement an on-the-fly change,” Folmer told the Parkersburg News and Sentinel. “That way they just don’t copy, paste and print. It was something where they had to learn to change some things, modify parts, how to prototype a piece and make a production piece that actually goes on the buggy.”
The high schoolers 3-D printed parts and attached them to the vehicle body, then completed the electrical hookups and wiring, which included soldering work. The buggy employed various systems, including internet, video and a transmitter.
While test driving on school grounds, the device caught the attention of maintenance personnel, who requested a tinier version to be used for ductwork and smaller culverts near the high school. The class agreed, with the new buggy expected to be completed next school year.
The culvert buggy was then taken out to an ODOT garage and ran through a series of tests, including trips into culverts.
“I was excited to see a project leave the school grounds and I was surprised that ODOT wanted to do something with the robotics class to then go to a different county, to then (…) actually be put in the workforce,” McLaughlin told WTAP. “I was excited.”
Source: Parkersburg News and Sentinel, WTAP
