NCKU’s Human Powered Submarine “sat-ba̍k-hî” Won the Best Newcomer Award in Europe International Submarine Races-國立成功大學永續發展SDGs

Team “TAO-HAI-REN” of NCKU brought the human-powered submarine from Taiwan to participate in the Europe International Submarine Races in Portsmouth, England. Though facing the difficulties of engine disorder, the driver infected by COVID-19,etc, they still passed the tests on land and underwater, making the record of first participation for Asian team. And because of the fully functional body of the submarine, they won the Best Newcomer Award. 

The race ended in the evening on July 15, the “sat-ba̍k-hî”  met a lot of twists and turns during the race. At the beginning of Wet Test, the buoyancy was reduced due to the compression of the foam volume, which caused the submarine to fail to float, the stern motor burned up , and the submarine fell. What’s more, the team members were infected by COVID-19 one after another, and when they repaired the submarine with less manpower difficulty, at last, they were still unable to get in the final round because of the infection of the driver, and lost the chance to compete with other teams.

Team “TAO-HAI-REN” arrived in England on July 3, successfully passed the test on land, followed by the underwater test on July 12 and got the qualification to join the race. The submarine, “sat-ba̍k-hî”, officially got on the stage of the race on July 13. However, the most important driver, student Wang, got infected by COVID-19, and other members were too tall to replace the role of the driver. Though the driver of Michigan said that he was willing to fill in for them, he also failed because of his tall and strong body type, making “sat-ba̍k-hî” failed to attend the final race on the last day because of the lack of driver.

The team leader of the department of Systems and Naval Mechatronic Engineering indicated that though the result was not very good, the team still got the chance to know how to improve in the future. For example, during the pandemic, they should care more about the member’s health. He said, “No matter what, we are satisfied to have the opportunity to bring sat-ba̍k-hî” abroad to attend the race, realizing our dream and finishing the impossible mission. And we really appreciate the support and careless from everyone!”

Team “TAO-HAI-REN” has been solving the difficulties such as engineering problems, fundraising, team operating, etc. They made every effort to attend the race in England, but failed to attend the final game, this made the team sad and disappointed. Two of the members said, “ The meaning of the race is not getting a good grade but making efforts together, completing the race with my teammates. The experience full of joy and tears is the most miraculous one during our student period.”

Chen, Jeng-Horng, the instructor of team “TAO-HAI-REN”, also the associate professor of the department of Systems and Naval Mechatronic Engineering indicated that as the first Asian team to attend the race, the team members needed to overcome the cold water temperature, the brand new race field. He said, “Our members got infected by COVID-19 one after another, even the driver couldn’t attend the race, so, literally, we were really beat by COVID-19.” However, the organizer was really surprised that Taiwan was able to make a fully functional submarine with Hydrodynamic Smooth Surface for the first time to attend the race. What’s more, “sat-ba̍k-hî” finished the test before University of Southampton, which also attend the race for the first time. Therefore, the team of NCKU won the award of the best newcomer. The professor who organized the Europe International Submarine Races will possibly visit NCKU’s  towing tank in February next year to evaluate the possibility of holding Asian race.