SUBC: UBC’s Submarine Design Team
Help us represent UBC and win at the International Submarine Races in 2023!
Project Description
SUBC is a 50-person, student-run, engineering design team that designs, manufactures, and races a human-powered submarine at annual international competitions. In addition to giving our all at the races, our goal is to build a community that fosters teamwork, personal growth, and the development of technical and soft skills.
This year, our team will be competing at the International Submarine Races (ISR) in Maryland, where we intend to push our submarine to its limits in a 100-meter race and win against universities from all around the world.
With the help of our sponsors, we have made significant progress with our design this year. However, building an optimized submarine, which must also meet the safety standards for a human pilot, is no easy feat. Being completely volunteer-run, our team needs all the help it can get to cover various manufacturing, testing, and transportation expenses. With your support, we can take our submarine across the finish line, allowing our team to distinguish itself at an international competition.
Challenges and Impact of Your Support
Building a safe and efficient submarine requires meticulous design, precise manufacturing, and continuous testing. Our team has completed most of the submarine’s design and is currently entering the manufacturing and testing stages. In order to test our submarine and its individual systems, we have also planned various sessions at local pools, which are crucial for producing a competitive submarine and a proficient crew of divers.
SUBC is a student-run engineering design team that relies heavily on the support of sponsors to make our projects a reality. Our members are working relentlessly to build a submarine to take to the upcoming competition. But despite our best efforts, we will not be able to achieve our goals without sufficient funding. Therefore, we are looking for your support to help cover costs for manufacturing, pool testing, and transporting the submarine to Maryland, USA.
About SUBC
SUBC is a student-led engineering design team composed of over 50 students across various disciplines and years. Our team’s history dates back to 1989, making us the oldest engineering design team at UBC. At our core, we design, manufacture and race a human-powered submarine for international competitions, all while providing our members with several opportunities not found in a classroom.
In recent years, we participated in the 2021 ISR competition, where we placed first in drivetrain design, and second place in both of the design categories of human factors and future submarine technical challenges.
Besides the opportunity to showcase our work and push our submarine to its limits in a competitive environment, the international races are a massive opportunity for students to learn practical engineering and interpersonal skills that will add a lot of value to their professional career.
You may find our members hard at work in our meeting room and design space on campus, testing components in a pool, or even scuba diving in the North Shore. SUBC’s members are enthusiastic about this year’s challenges and are ready to see all their work culminate with the competition in the summer. To dive into our team’s progress, make sure to follow us on Instagram (@subc_ubc). If you have any questions about our project, please also feel free to reach out to us directly at hello@subc.ca.
