Amount of funding awarded
6000.00
Budget Report
View budget report.
How the program has supported you
Work on Raye, UBC Sailbot’s second fully autonomous sailboat, could not have progressed without the generous financial support of the PAF program over the last 12 months. Catching up from pandemic-induced delays, and with weather and logistical challenges preventing a successful launch in August 2022, Raye is now scheduled to sail from Vancouver Island to Hawaii in Summer 2023. The PAF funding enabled us to conduct essential in-water testing of Raye’s sailing software in the spring of 2022. It also helped us replace unreliable hardware components in preparation for the maiden journey. Lastly, the PAF funding provided team members the necessary space to experiment, design, and troubleshoot complex problems. In sum, the financial support has enabled the whole team to grow and UBC Sailbot to further strengthen its position as a strong innovator in the marine industry, benefiting students, UBC, and the maritime community at large.
Outcomes
During the last 12 months, more than 40 UBC engineering students benefited from the opportunity to gain technical, interpersonal, and managerial skills. The gradual loosening of COVID-19 restrictions allowed the team to effectively work on the vessel in our “EDC” workspace and participate in team-wide hybrid meetings. These meetings facilitated work within the sub-teams and their coordination ahead of Raye’s maiden voyage. Students conducted thorough software and hardware analyses of the vessel’s components, such as the rudder steering mechanism, which posed difficult challenges to troubleshoot. In the process, our students have honed their technical engineering skills and have learned to strengthen their teamworking abilities. Moreover, many students acquired team leadership skills as they honed more into people and project management. The exposure to technical, collaborative, and leadership skills will help position our engineering students well in the post-graduation job market.
