“Going into robotics is just a habit. Instead of going out or drink beer after school, I would rather spend my time imagining stuff, working and building things” cited Michael Poblete.  This 23 year old computer engineering student conceptualized and created the main design of what they call ROV (remotely operated vehicle) or which they also call “Underwater Inspection”.  Michael, together with his friends were able to come up with a prototype after a year’s work which they used to enter the National Inventions Contest 2006 in PTTC. After they have won in this contest, this inspired him to develop the project further.

Living in the Philippines, which is composed of more than 7,100 islands; having the second largest coast line in the world; and with abundant marine resources, Michael saw a need and believed that he could do something and make a difference in helping the Philippine economy. With this in mind, and after 4 prototypes, he was able to create “Angel One ROV”.

It’s main functions are as follows:
-    Ship Hull Inspection – One example is the Guimaras incident. If the captain was able to inspect his hull and has this equipment, he will be able to detect the extent of the damage and might have done something to prevent the oil spill, but unfortunately he was not able to know the extent of the problem. By the time he knew he was in trouble, there is no time left to fix it and was unable to go ashore. If they have the ROV on board, they will immediately detect the status of their hull, doesn’t matter the condition of the sea, doesn’t need special divers or special training to be able to access the hull, this should help increase their safety and know the conditions of their hull and avoid such disasters.
-    Monitoring of coral reefs
-    Nature preserves
-    Underwater structures inspections.
-    Port security where we can use it for anti-terrorism
-    Fish pen monitoring

One doesn’t have to be computer literate or a technical person to be able to operate this equipment. Main controls are forward, backward, left and right, just like playing your game boy at home, you can even control it with one hand. It’s portable and has a RCD feature to detect if the cable has been damaged, once the current of electricity changes, it will automatically shut down preventing electrocution, but not to worry, you will not loose your equipment because it will automatically float once it shuts down.

For now, the equipment can only go 300 meters deep, but Michael and his crew are now trying to develop it to go deeper around 500 meters or more. But nevertheless, his invention has already been proven and tested in various fish pens and by the Seabees (Philippine Navy maintenance group) themselves.

A word of advice from Michael “Don’t follow the norm, don’t follow the status quo, follow what we did … my advice is to follow your heart.”

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