SurvTech Solutions has many great relationships with organizations throughout the greater Tampa Bay area. We strive to be a recognizable entity that stands out amongst the crowd, dedicating time and sponsorship to various charities and fundraising events. One such event that we have grown fond of in the UAV department is the annual Port Tampa golf tournament, which benefits the Tampa Port Ministries and the Tampa Bay Maritime Scholarship Foundation.
Not so much because of my strong golf game (Mr. O’Brien will tell you that comedic relief is what I would bring to the foursome), but due to an exciting technique that my department has honed over the years, we get invited to participate in the tournament each year.
Think of the crane game you see in entrances to many department stores or at the arcade – now imagine that merged with golf and drones, and what do you get? SurvTech’s annual golf ball drop at the Port Tampa golf tournament! If you ever Google what a golf ball drop from drones looks like, you would likely see a device that is utilized to carry multiple golf balls and drop them all at once to create a sort of lottery-style game. Sounds pretty cool, but the excitement with that is short-lived if you ask me. What we have come up with gets everyone involved. One of our pilots (Bryce Gerhart) created a device using his 3D printer that allows us to place a golf ball in a holder mounted under the drone. The device has a solenoid that is then triggered by the pilot through the remote control, which causes the ball to be released, hopefully into the cup (or within a couple of inches at the very least). We were even able to bring Robert Brown up from our Sanford office with his drone this year to get some manual flight skill building in.
This year the tournament took place on April 14th (much better weather than in previous years, where the tournament was in May), and the event was a huge success! The Port raised over $100,000 for the two charities, setting a new record for the event. SurvTech is proud to have been a part of this event, and we look forward to continuing our support of the cause!