We are to create a water vehicle that can collect objects on the surface of wate

Question

We are to create a water vehicle that can collect objects on the surface of water in a specified time. The objective is that the vehicle is to navigate in water to collect 24 ping pong balls and store them in a floating container. The project will be evaluated in our school pool and must be placed along at least half the pool. The pool lane dividers are part of the course.

I am having troubles coming up with ideas and was wondering if someone could help me come up with some ideas and problems that I might in counter.

Explanation / Answer

I had a few friends do a similar project as a part of their engineering class. They device that they used was comprised of PVC, 3 fans sealed in wax, two styrofoam pieces used as floaters. The device used a mesh as a basket to captures the tennis balls.The device was hardwired to a remote control battery. The shape of the vehicle looked like the figure below. The two of the fans were angled while one of the fans allowed only vertical motion.

Some of the problems they faced were:

Had to submerge its front side and re-emerge it to capture the balls.
Ensure that the vehicle floated but also had movement in all x,y,z planes
Problems with length of wire and water proofing of motors.

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