The human powered submarine has consistently had a problem because of the need for deep water for testing. The reason for the need of deep water testing is that the high aspect ratio control surfaces were designed for the submarine. Arguably, this is the proper design for the surfaces, however practical issues always are a factor in the implementation and these practical issues keep this from being the correct solution for the team. Among the other risks was that a single accidental light kick to the foils by a member of another team was enough to disable the mount given the long moment arm.
This project will involve rigorous design of control surfaces for the human powered submarine. The team will be responsible for design and testing of the control surfaces as well as design and build of the manual control system for the surfaces. Material selection is critical to the design as is the use of "all available" design tools. You will not succeed unless you plan on spending a lot of time testing, and success is required for a good grade and satisfaction with the end of the class. Testing testing testing. The control surfaces need to be easily replaceable and designed to work in the wake of the oscillating hydrofoil. This will also require hands on build of the foils. And did I mention, they must be tested along with the manual controls.