Two Hawaii High Schools Prevail in International Student Underwater Robotics Competition

Students use innovative underwater robots to explore the science and technology of ocean observing systems

News Release from Friends of Hawaii Robotics

Monterey, Calif. — Two Hawaii high schools won major awards, while one Hawaii student took away a top award at the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center’s 12th Annual student Underwater Robotics Competition, held in Federal Way, Wash.  Participants included more than 50 student teams representing middle schools, high schools, home schools, community colleges, universities, after-school clubs, and outreach programs from the U.S., Canada, Venezuela, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Macao, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Russia, and Egypt.

The Kailua High School Robotics Program won the Harry Bohm/Jill Zande “Sharkpedo” Award for innovation and originality—thinking outside the box, in the Ranger Division.

The Kealakehe High School Robotics Program won the Safety Conscious Award in the Ranger Division. This prestigious award is given to a team that exhibited exemplary safety practices and scored well on safety practices

Finally, Chris Campos from the Kailua High School Robotics Program won the Martin Bowen Memorial Inspiration for Future Engineers Award. This is awarded to a team or an individual who demonstrates passion, creativeness, and ingenuity along with a sense of humor, professionalism, and kindness towards fellow competitors. The award is named in honor of Martin Bowen, an underwater vehicle engineer and ROV pilot. Mr. Bowen spent a good part of his career at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). He was the first person to pilot an ROV down the grand staircase of the Titanic.

The MATE Center’s International Student ROV (remotely operated vehicle) Competition was held at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center. Student teams competed with underwater robots that they personally designed and built to handle underwater tasks associated with the operation and maintenance of ocean observing systems.

Teams competed in either the RANGER or EXPLORER class, depending on the sophistication of their ROVs and the mission requirements.

ROVs and Ocean Observing Systems

This year’s contest emphasized the role played by ROVs in the installation, operation, and maintenance of ocean observing systems—collections of high-tech instruments above and below the waves that provide around-the-clock information about what’s happening in the ocean. Student teams piloted their ROVs to complete a variety of underwater mission tasks associated with ocean observing systems, prepared and presented an engineering report to a panel of volunteer judges, and created a poster display aimed at the general public.

Students were encouraged to think like entrepreneurs and manage their teams like companies, a process that helps them develop the teamwork, creative thinking, and problem solving skills that will make them competitive in today’s global workplace. Teams were evaluated on the design, construction, and performance of their ROVs; their ability to communicate what they learned; and how they put their knowledge to use in designing and building their ROV.

About the MATE Center

Funded by the National Science Foundation and headquartered at Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey, Calif., the MATE Center works with educators and industry to improve marine technology education and expose students to science, technology, engineering, and math-related careers.

Friends of Hawaii Robotics (Friends), a Hawaii 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, non-partisan organization supports STEM education in Hawaii schools. Today, seven different programs, from elementary school through high school, are part of the Friends family of programs. To learn more, please visit www.friendsofhawaiirobotics.org.

For more information about MATE and the MATE ROV competition, please visit www.marinetech.org.