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������˾�� Team Takes 2nd Place at MATE ROV World Championship

When ������˾��’s (������˾��) underwater ROV team made the trek to Tennessee this summer for the , they were still relative landlubbers. But when they left a few short days later, they proved to be old salts. The team, which had only competed in the international event once before, took home a second-place trophy!

The MATE ROV World Championship, which has been held annually since 2001, tasks students from around the world with building underwater vehicles to accomplish a set of “missions.” This year’s competition, which was held from June 20 to 22, saw 79 teams from 17 countries. ������˾��’s team competed in the Pioneer Class, the same class they competed in last year when they placed fourth out of six. But this year, the newcomers’ class more than doubled with 13 teams competing.

“I was overjoyed and extremely proud,” said Biology Professor Dr. Jeff Miller, who assembled the team.

Dr. Miller created ������˾��’s ROV, or Remotely Operated Vehicle, team in the fall of 2022 after joining a cohort of community colleges to start ROV programs at their schools and compete in the MATE competition. He serves as the team’s mentor but stresses that the students deserve all the credit for their win.

“Their success was entirely due to a student-led initiative,” Dr. Miller said. “I was mostly a figurehead this year so the team did all the work — they established roles for each member and completed all aspects of the project on their own.” 

The team spent nearly a year designing and building an underwater ROV and an autonomous float — an oceanographic instrument used for making subsurface measurements in the ocean without the need for a ship, propeller, or a person operating it. To earn points at the competition, both vehicles would be tasked with completing missions based on real-world scenarios. Those scenarios included building and repairing dams, administering probiotics to heal diseased coral, and monitoring ocean health.

Steven Dotts, who has been on ������˾��’s team since its inception, took on the role of CEO this year. The engineering major, who will graduate this December from ������˾�� and then transfer to Arizona State University, also took home the competition’s top award — the Martin Klein MATE Mariner Medal.

“I was extremely surprised because there were so many amazing and inventive teams,” Steven said. “I never thought I was a shoo-in for any individual awards.”

The Martin Klein MATE Mariner Medal, named after ,” is awarded to “the individual or team that demonstrates an appreciation for the practical applications of their knowledge and skills; a genuine interest in the competition mission; a penchant for a lifetime interest in the field of marine science and technology; and exceptional passion — not just for winning but for the entire competition process.” The winner receives a $1,000 scholarship check and a medal engraved with one of Dr. Klein’s favorite sayings: “Always ask how we can do this better.”

“I was happy to read the engraving on the medal, as it perfectly described my attitude toward designing the float,” Steven said.

Steven designed and built the float all on his own last year and improved upon it this year, making it smaller, more reliable, and easier to use. The float’s mission was to complete two vertical profiles while collecting pressure and depth data and then transmit that data to the base station to be graphed. He scored a 70 out of 70 and caught a lot of the judges’ attention.

“Steven Dotts is absolutely brilliant,” said Rick Rupan, who manages the float lab for the  and volunteers as a regional coordinator for the MATE competition. “He re-engineered a float to be miniaturized. I build these floats, and they’re huge. That’s what I know how to do, but these students have now miniaturized it.”

Rupan was so impressed with Steven that he invited him to the  held shortly after the competition.

“It was an amazing experience,” Steven said. “I joined a group of 16 students, and we were able to tour the University of Washington’s float lab, meet some of the technicians and the engineer responsible for designing and assembling the floats, and go on a research cruise in the Puget Sound.”

Like the float, this year’s ROV was completely re-engineered as well. The team upgraded the frame, the camera, the thrusters, and the computerized controls, just to name a few.

“The upgrades allowed us to improve almost everything by an order of magnitude — it was bigger, better, faster, stronger,” Steven said. “And the computerized controls allowed for more turnability and much, much more controllability.”

That transition to computerized controls is the biggest change Dr. Klein, who has been a MATE ROV World Championship judge since 2003, has seen since the competition began.

“The vehicles have evolved a lot over the years,” Dr. Klein said. “Probably the biggest change is the change from analog controls such as toggle switches to full digital control using game controllers. Students can also use low-cost computer modules such as Arduino and Raspberry Pi to do sophisticated programming, and a lot of the parts are now 3D printed.

Like last year, the team utilized ������˾��’s MakerSpace to 3D print the ROV’s gripper, or “claw.” But unlike last year when they built the ROV frame out of PVC tubing, they opted to use the MakerSpace’s CNC router instead.

“The MakerSpace really helped us by providing a space to work, a place to store some of our equipment, and the tooling to build it,” Steven said.

Steven admitted that the competition wasn’t all smooth sailing — they experienced minor breakages and the “claw was flaking out” — but that the team came together and was able to diagnose and fix the issues.

“I was happy that the float task went perfectly,” Steven said, “but I was even happier that our team was able to do an excellent job and pull off a great score.”