Humans of Warwick - Will James & Harold Kikoyo

Will James and Harold Kikoyo

Undergraduates, School of Engineering 

“We’ve designed and built the submarine, now we get to race it!”

Will (on the right)

“I’m in my fourth year of a Masters in engineering, as part of that we have to pick a big project. One of the options was designing a human-powered submarine for the International Submarine Races. It sounded amazing, something we design ourselves and actually pilot. That practical experience really appealed to me.

The competition alternates between Southampton and Washington D.C. Southampton is more technical, you steer around obstacles, but Washington is a straight 100-metre sprint. This year, we’re heading to Washington. It’s sponsored by a charity that wants to inspire people into marine engineering, which is pretty cool.

We’ve been practicing in the university pool, but it’s only about 25 metres so we haven’t seen top speed yet. Right now, we’re hitting about one metre per second, but we’re aiming for 1.5 to 2 metres per second. The race will be tough, there are teams from Taiwan, Poland, Canada, the U.S. and even American high schools. Some of them have huge teams and multi-year projects. We’re just seven people, so it’s a lot of work for each of us, but that’s part of the challenge.

After graduation, I’m planning to spend a year in Canada, but before that I’m trying to get an internship, hopefully with a company that makes bamboo bicycles, yes, they are real! Outside of university I’m training for a triathlon. I’ve signed up for one already so that’s my next big goal.”

Harold (on the left)

“I joined the submarine project because I wanted a more hands-on engineering experience. I’d done some student projects before, but nothing like this. It’s been great. Lots of practical work and even learning scuba diving so we can pilot the sub underwater, that was a new skill for me!

I’m the team captain, so my role is to manage the project and keep everyone working together. We’ve got a technical team, propulsion leads, a safety manager and a project supervisor. Sometimes people have different ideas, so I make sure everything runs smoothly. I also handle some admin, like liaising with the charity that runs the competition.

After graduation? I’m still figuring things out. I’ve worked in finance before, doing research, and I might go back to that, but I still have an interest in engineering. It’s a big decision, so I’m keeping my options open for now.

Away from university, I love football. I used to play for teams, but since joining the submarine project, I’ve mostly played matches with the engineering society. This project has taken up most of my time, but it’s been worth it. We’ve had funny moments too, like when the propeller blades didn’t print properly and ended up bending in ways they weren’t supposed to! It was frustrating, but a great learning experience.”