St Edward's Primary School
The Marine Machine team from St Edward's Primary School decided they wanted to take part in the STEM the Flow Engineering Challenge because they wanted to make a difference.
To help with their project the team were assisted by Ciaran, from Jacobs Engineering. The pupils had video calls and some in-person meetings with Ciaran to help through the process.
The group got together to talk about different ideas on design concepts and collectively came to an agreement on what would work best.
They wanted a design that would be cost effective and for which materials could be easily sourced. It was also important to design a model that would be simple to build. After many discussions they had a product name and idea - ‘Marine Clean Grabbers’ and the ‘Net Box’.
The ‘Marine Clean Grabbers’ main purpose is to help reduce the amount of rubbish in the river Clyde and improve the ecosystem.
It is made from two aluminium poles with scuba flippers connected to the bottom. These will be used to pick up the litter.
This device will be attached to a metal box to ensure it has stability while manoeuvring from a land surface.
The net box will be made from metal with a net attached to the top. There will be a hole made within the metal box to allow the deposit of rubbish.
This project aims to reduce litter in the river and stop it being swept downstream to places. The removal of debris from the water will also improve the wildlife habitat.
The device will not impede the passage of fish or other wildlife which will be able to swim under and around it.
