Roboboat 

	The front of the boat had a yellow water pump capable of collecting water samples. The mechanism for this pump came from a battery powered electric water gun. I strapped the gun to the top of a servo and when the servo turned the gun would come into contact with some carefully placed electric switches to start or stop the water pumping.
	Using my existing RC toy truck, I strapped the chassis to the top of a couple layers of Styrofoam and replaced the rubber wheels with paddle wheels. When I first tested the paddle wheels water ended up splashing all over the boat. Not a good thing for the electric motors and switches. My quick fix was adding a tape coated cardboard cover over the paddle wheels to contain the splashing. The drive motor for the paddle wheels was capable of forward and reverse using a mechanically actuated speed controller.
	The original servo used to steer the car was used for steering a rudder instead (seen here on the lower left side) Note: the boat in these pictures is sitting on a Coleman cardboard box which of course isn't part of the boat.

	The crane motor and gearbox were stripped from some motorized vehicle I picked up at the local toy store. The motor was activated using some switches mounted to a servo for forward and reverse. As you can see, the crane net was constructed mainly from panty hose and a plastic 35mm film holder.
	I put a fish hook and some bread as bait on the end of the crane. When my friend and I were just about to give up with catching a fish we caught one as we were bringing the boat to shore.
	I probably should have fried it in a pan but there was no telling what type of toxic waste was in this pond. I ended up removing the fish hook and releasing the critter back into the pond.  Years later this pond was filled with dirt and is no longer in existence.

	Here's some samples collected from the crane net. Unfortunately, I don't remember what these things are called.
	Here's a Hydra catching food with its tentacles.
	Some type of segmented larvae. Imagine that this is the type of stuff swimming around us when we jump into a lake or pond.