The United Nations proclaimed a Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) to support efforts to reverse the cycle of decline in ocean health and to gather the global community behind a common goal: creating improved conditions for sustainable use and development of our world ocean.

The MATE ROV competition fits into this goal by encouraging students to design robots to tackle key challenges in oceaneering, such as sustainable harvesting of sealife, collection of waste in the water, and identification of man-made wreckage under the surface.

Students are also tasked with presenting their designs to both engineers in industry, and to students of a younger age to foster interest in underwater robotics.

ROVs for this competition must be waterproof, and have the capabilities required by each year’s competition. This robot has an onboard camera and gripper system to be used in the manipulation of a simulated pipe valve

Other examples of equipment include a suction tube for collection of simulated sea urchins, as well as onboard lights to be used in tandem with the onboard camera for underwater identification of wreckage.

I have been building ROVs since 2014, either for competition or for sale in industry. My first ROV, made of PVC and duct tape, cemented my love of building things which can go where humans cannot. As my engineering skill grew, so too did the development of ROVs. Seen in the picture above are some of the robots I have designed or helped to design.

I am currently mentoring my High School team, assisting them in understanding core engineering principles and sharing the issues I ran into when I was in their shoes.