EDUROVs: A Low Cost and Sustainable Remotely Operated Vehicles Educational Program

Eduardo Quevedo,Joaquín H Brito,Josefina Loustau,José Juan Gil,Remei Calm,Daura Vega,Eduard Muntaner,Albert Figueras,Xavier Cufí

doi:10.3390/su13158657

Abstract

EDUROV is an educational underwater robot proposal from the researchers of the Oceanic Platform of Canary Islands (PLOCAN) and the Computer Vision and Robotics research group of the University of Girona (VICOROB), launched in January 2012 with the support of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECyT). This program has evolved in the last decade in order to make it more sustainable, allowing the teleoperation of underwater vehicles from anywhere in the world. EDUROVs have passed through several phases, beginning with a basic electronics robot, followed by the incorporation of open-source electronic prototyping platforms and finally reaching the current state of teleoperation. Results based on 1–5 Likert scale questions show that both students and teachers consider the program useful to introduce technical and scientific concepts. It is concluded that the use of low-cost materials and tools that are easy to obtain, following education on sustainability approaches, also makes them possible for use in high schools, and science teachers can easily carry out the activity. Moreover, the possibility of remote teleoperation of underwater vehicles, together with the collaboration among groups of students in different locations that are in contact through these online tools, allows one to motivate students to work on the project from a different perspective.

Highlights

IntroductionSeas and coastal areas form an integrated and essential component of the
Oceans, seas and coastal areas form an integrated and essential component of theEarth’s ecosystem and are critical to sustainable development
The EDUROV project has gone through different phases where the underwater vehicle has been incorporated different technological elements that have allowed the contact of the students with a greater number of subjects and fields of knowledge, with the consequent incorporation of students of different educational levels, increasing in this way the potential school audience to which the project is addressed

Summary

Introduction

Seas and coastal areas form an integrated and essential component of the. Earth’s ecosystem and are critical to sustainable development. They cover more than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface and contain 97% of the planet’s water. Over three billion people depend on marine and coastal resources for their lives. Oceans are the primary regulator of the global climate, an important sink for greenhouse gases and they provide water and oxygen to the Earth. Oceans host huge reservoirs of biodiversity [1]. Conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources is the 14th

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