With the wind in their sails: meet UAntwerp’s next level Solar Boat Team.
- camillapeeters
- 20 feb
- 2 minuten om te lezen
Bijgewerkt op: 23 feb
UAntwerp’s Solar Boat Team is truly taking it to the next level this year. They are not just competing again in the yearly Monaco Energy Boat Challenge with a boat that runs entirely on solar power. They are taking on an extra challenge. This year the team is competing in the competition’s new AI class. The big innovation they're presenting is autonomy. The UAntwerp Solar Boat Team is building a boat that will steer itself.
The boat might steer itself, but the UAntwerp Solar Boat Team certainly doesn’t. Toon Lambers is a student in electro mechanics at the University of Antwerp. He is also team leader and coordinates everything that has to do with autonomy. Although in his research he might focus on one part of the boat, at the end of the day all the pieces must work together perfectly. Now that’s some way to make the dream team work! The key is to make sure no one’s going in the deep end of their specific bit of research…
Autonomous boats are all the hype today. And they should be, as research into self-driving vehicles is super relevant for our engineers of today and the near future. The UAntwerp Solar Boat Team are aiming high: they are a team made entirely out of students, who are combining their studies with their innovations on the team. They’ve got a spot to work on their ideas inside of the University of Antwerp, but they source funding and materials themselves. Representing the team at TechNight 2025, Toon will talk students through everything the UAntwerp Solar Boat Team stands for, as well as how he acquired a range of useful soft skills through organizing and sourcing funding for the team.
His message to the students? “I hope to be a good example to motivate students around me. If you can find like-minded people and you can work out a good plan, you can already get far.” If you’re feeling motivated to walk down to Toon’s talk, don’t hesitate! Find him and many more speaking at TechNight 2025.
Want to connect with the UAntwerp Solar Boat Team?
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