Belpre High School students Jayden Haynes and Adrik McLaughlin do some soldering work on components that would go on a culvert buggy, a modified remote-controlled buggy that was built to go into culverts and inspect them. The buggy was outfitted with cameras, lights and more. (Photo Provided)

BELPRE — A group of Belpre High School students were able to help the Ohio Department of Transportation make a specialized piece of equipment that can go into and inspect culverts, utilizing a number of skills they learned in the classroom.

Since September, the four students made a “culvert buggy” that will help inspect some of Washington County’s over 13,000 culverts, said Chad Folmer, ODOT District 10 Equipment Manager/Procurement Officer.

Folmer created the original buggies that he has been using around the district. They were created from remote-control buggy kits where he took the chassis and added equipment, such as cameras, lights and more. The vehicles were modified to be able to go into culverts, maneuver around and be able to inspect them.

The Washington County ODOT had a student job fair event where different ODOT departments participated including facilities, construction, environmental, mechanics, equipment maintenance and so on.

“The schools came in and visited each booth and saw a number of things people didn’t realize ODOT did,” he said.

Ohio Department of Transportation District 10 Equipment Manager/Procurement Officer Chad Folmer with Belpre High School students Adrik McLaughlin, Jayden Haynes and Christopher Boso with the culvert buggy the students built in their 3-D Printing and Robotics Class. The modified remote-controlled buggy was built to go into culverts and inspect them. (Photo Provided)

Folmer had a table set up with his buggies demonstrating what they could do. This caught the attention of Belpre High School 3-D Printing and Robotics Teacher Jamey Erb who began talking to Folmer about how some of the second-year students in her class could create one of the buggies, utilizing a number of skills they learned.

“I thought it would be a great opportunity for the kids to build them,” Erb said. “It was a real world connection and would be a great opportunity for our kids to work with them.

“This is actually going to be used somewhere in the state of Ohio for the next district who asks for one of these.”

The students putting the buggy together were senior Christopher Boso, sophomore Jayden Haynes, senior Adrick McLaughlin and junior Keegan Marsh.

Folmer visited the classroom with the specs he created for the buggies as well as a number of the parts that would have to be fabricated.

A group of Belpre High School students worked with Ohio Department of Transportation officials to build a culvert buggy, a modified remote-controlled buggy that could go into culverts and inspect them. The students have been working on and building the buggy in their 3-D Printing and Robotics class since September and recently had the chance to take it out in the field to test it. (Photo Provided)

“I worked with the students on modifying some of the parts just to implement an on-the-fly change,” he said. “That way they just don’t copy, paste and print. It was something where they had to learn to change some things, modify parts, how to prototype a piece and make a production piece that actually goes on the buggy.”

The students talked about the various challenges of putting the buggy together, 3-D printing certain parts and attaching them to the body of the vehicle as well as doing all the electrical hookups and wiring including soldering work.

“It was disappointing when it didn’t go the way we expected,” Boso said of times when they didn’t get the measurements exactly and the pieces didn’t fit on the buggy correctly.

Haynes said there were a lot that happened during the project that they had to deal with. He credited Folmer with being there to help guide them, but allowing them to figure out how to address it.

“He didn’t tell us what to do,” he said. “He would guide us so we could solve it on our own.

Ohio Department of Transportation District 10 Equipment Manager/Procurement Officer Chad Folmer works with Belpre High School students Jayden Haynes and Adrik McLaughlin on a culvert buggy, a modified remote-controlled buggy that was built to go into culverts and inspect them. (Photo Provided)

“It helped us grow and learn how to do things.”

Boso said water was an issue they had to overcome, especially dealing with water in the culverts and making sure parts of the buggy were protected to make sure the wiring and the electronics are protected.

“Water was a big issue,” he said. “We had to make sure the wires were where they needed to be and intact to make sure water did not get on them.”

Folmer also created a wiring schematic, utilizing the students’ work on robotic projects, they could follow to hook up various systems to the buggy, including internet, video and the transmitter for the buggy.

Boso talked about a number of side panels they had to 3-D print four or five times to get them right.

Belpre High School students Jayden Haynes, Adrik McLaughlin, Christopher Boso and Keegan Marsh talk with Ohio Department of Transportation District 10 Equipment Manager/Procurement Officer Chad Folmer about the remote controlled culvert buggy they were building in their 3-D Printing and Robotics class. Folmer initially created the buggies and was working with students to create others for ODOT to be able to use in the field to drive into and inspect culverts. (Photo Provided)

3-D printing is becoming a way to produce different items for different needs and it is widely available, Folmer said.

“This is something this generation is going more towards,” he said.

Marsh talked about assembling different parts of the buggy, getting the 3-D printed parts just right so they would fit.

“It was enjoyable putting it together for me,” he said. “It taught me how to work better as part of a team.

“It helped me rediscover that I love being able to put stuff together.”

Belpre High School student Keegan Marsh does some work on the tires for a culvert buggy that students built in their 3-D printing and robotics class. (Photo Provided)

Since they were all second-year students in the 3-D printing and robotics class, a lot of the basics they learned the first year helped them through different challenges as well as building their own robots and participating in competitions.

Soldering wires was a challenge as Marsh had not done that before.

The students talked about how even being a millimeter off can ruin a project.

McLaughlin said once a buggy was assembled, the students put it through some tests, driving it around their school to see how it could maneuver. Some of the building maintenance personnel saw the buggy and wanted a smaller version which could be used for ductwork and the smaller culverts they have near the high school. The class began work on a smaller version of the buggy with it expected to be completed during the next school year.

“I have always been a hands-on learner,” McLaughlin said. “To be able to get that experience in school with something like this was fun and enjoyable.”

The culvert buggy was taken out to the ODOT garage in Little Hocking and ran through a series of tests and was put through three culverts, only running into a problem in the last one. Boso said they had problems with the premade gear box. If they knew how it was going to initially perform, they would have 3-D printed the parts to better protect the gear box.

McLaughlin said he appreciated ODOT coming into the school and letting them work on this project.

“It is fun to see groups working with high schoolers and to see our creations going out into the workforce,” he said.

Haynes is looking forward to continuing work on the smaller buggy project next school year.

“It is a project I am definitely happy to continue into next year,” he said. “It is something that definitely interests me. It is something I am grateful to be able to work on to be able to give back to our school.”

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com