{"id":45043,"date":"2021-07-06T16:27:06","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T20:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/?p=45043"},"modified":"2021-07-13T16:11:34","modified_gmt":"2021-07-13T20:11:34","slug":"epic-students-redesign-lobster-traps-to-save-right-whales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/2021\/07\/06\/epic-students-redesign-lobster-traps-to-save-right-whales\/","title":{"rendered":"EPIC students redesign lobster traps to save right whales"},"content":{"rendered":"

A team of students making up the first cohort<\/a> at the 91르적 Experiential Learning Innovation Central (EPIC)<\/a> redesigned lobster trapping mechanisms in order to protect right whales.<\/p>\n

Guided by faculty mentors Jason Bolton, John Belding, and Ali Abedi, the team included Hannah Milne, a first-year chemical engineering student; Alexis Bader and Benjamin Swanson, students both studying mechanical engineering.<\/p>\n

According to the team, right whales are getting tangled in the lobster trap ropes because they are color blind and cannot see any color except bright red. Given that the North Atlantic right whale is endangered, with fewer than 400 left in the wild, preventing them from getting tangled is crucial to their survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to create an effective solution to prevent the entanglement of the right whales that can be completed in 12 months so that the lobstermen don\u2019t lose out,\u201d says Milne. The students spoke to lobstermen to understand how they fish, to help them think of multiple ways to tackle the problem. \u201cWe had an out-of-the-box idea that was an electromagnetic retrieval, but putting a giant magnet on a boat is not conducive. And when you have to retrieve lobster traps in 500 feet deep water, a magnet is not going to work,\u201d says Bader.<\/p>\n

The students had four other ideas including an airbag deployment system, making a flotation device to link several traps together, but the weight would need to be counteracted with buoyancy. The students arrived at their proposed design, which utilizes a timed-release mechanism for a lobster trap. \u201cIt\u2019s a mechanical timer that signals release depending on a lapsed time,\u201d describes Bader. \u201cSay two to three days, depending on the lobsterman\u2019s period that they leave the traps out, a gear would eventually shift and release extra rope that would then allow the buoy to travel up to the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swanson explains the mechanism in more detail. \u201cIt\u2019s really a gearbox. There\u2019s an input motor spinning off of the battery to the translation of gears. It will go to an output gear that will rotate once every two to three days, that will give enough time for the lobster traps we set to have the lobsters crawl in and get trapped.\u201d Once that mechanical trigger goes off it will trigger a release hook, which will release the rope from a wound-up coil on the ocean floor, allowing the buoy to float to the surface. The buoy will be spotted on the surface and the lobsterman can come to collect the traps.<\/p>\n

The students\u2019 work includes multiple prototypes and interviews to provide a solid start if the project continues beyond the course. \u201cThis would be our original design that we could take to industry leaders and see whether this design would be feasible and then get that feedback,\u201d says Swanson. The interdisciplinary, collaborative nature of EPIC is also what drew Bader to take the course. \u201cThis seemed interesting to try and solve using aspects of mechanical engineering and the innovative process was very interesting in my opinion.\u201d For Milne, she chose to work on this project specifically because of her love for whales. \u201cI was interested in helping them out, it\u2019s a project that I want to do the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contact: research@maine.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Written by Clarisa Diaz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A team of students making up the first cohort at the 91르적 Experiential Learning Innovation Central (EPIC) redesigned lobster trapping mechanisms in order to protect right whales. Guided by faculty mentors Jason Bolton, John Belding, and Ali Abedi, the team included Hannah Milne, a first-year chemical engineering student; Alexis Bader and Benjamin Swanson, students both 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A team of students making up the first cohort at the 91르적 Experiential Learning Innovation Central (EPIC) redesigned lobster trapping mechanisms in order to protect right whales. Guided by faculty mentors Jason Bolton, John Belding, and Ali Abedi, the team included Hannah Milne, a first-year chemical engineering student; Alexis Bader and Benjamin Swanson, students both studying mechanical engineering. According to the team, right whales are getting tangled in the lobster trap ropes because they are color blind and cannot see any color except bright red. Given that the North Atlantic right whale is endangered, with fewer than 400 left in…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"Program Highlight<\/a>, Research News<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"","url":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/author\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":573,"label":"Program Highlight"},{"value":65,"label":"Research News"}],"post_tag":[{"value":635,"label":"EPIC"},{"value":636,"label":"lobster traps"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2021\/07\/10_web.jpg",1024,576,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/author\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":573,"name":"Program Highlight","slug":"program-highlight","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":573,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":41,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":573,"category_count":41,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Program Highlight","category_nicename":"program-highlight","category_parent":0},{"term_id":65,"name":"Research News","slug":"research-news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":65,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":226,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":65,"category_count":226,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Research News","category_nicename":"research-news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":635,"name":"EPIC","slug":"epic","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":635,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":636,"name":"lobster traps","slug":"lobster-traps","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":636,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/478"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45043"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45085,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45043\/revisions\/45085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}