At a recent meeting of the American Society of Highway Engineers (ASHE), a local engineer gave a presentation that sparked such interest he’s sharing it again.
In his presentation at the ASHE meeting, Matt Abel, the Executive Vice President of iDesign, Inc., and his colleague Rahul Kesarkar discussed some of the obstacles they encountered when they were designing stormwater and drainage improvements in Garrett County. He presented a video of his homemade pipe inspection vehicle, and got such a huge reaction he’s bringing the workshop to Beltsville.
At the “D.I.Y. Pipe Inspection Vehicle Workshop,” iDesign will help other teams learn how Abel built his inspection robots, and how they can do the same. Those attendees who would like to try and assemble a robot at the workshop will have access to a list of recommended parts.
The event will include a presentation where the components and technologies involved in building the robots are explained. There will also be a workshop where attendees will be able to build a new robot from the ground up, and the day’s finale will be the chance to test the robots by driving them through storm drains 18 inches in diameter.
Finally, a pizza party ends the day. The DIY workshop is scheduled for April 19, from 3.00 pm until 6.00 pm at iDesign Engineering, Inc., 4041 Powder Mill Road in Beltsville. Organizers of events like this will often work with flyer printing to create handouts, such as a parts list, for attendees.
