UWROV ran our first ever miniature version of the MATE ROV competition as a way to onboard new members!

Nine teams of 3-6 students, each with one UWROV lead acting as a mentor spent 5 weeks in an interdisciplinary boot camp that introduced them to MATE, our ROV Boxfish, and the process of developing an engineered product from the ground up.

At the end of those 5 weeks, the teams came together to deliver engineering presentations, set up marketing displays, and demo their manipulator in the UW Ocean Sciences Building’s saltwater pool. They also created and submitted technical documentation, JSEAs, Electrical SIDs, and even ran corporate responsibility events.

Teams were scored on many different aspects of their submissions, including their documentation, performance in the pool, operational safety, and team spirit.

Special recognition goes to the following teams for outstanding materials created:

The top scoring Marketing Display was created by Team Dead Mornings, so named for their 8am team meetings. They created a differential manipulator capable of interacting with several complex geometries to aid in the release of recovery floats in mini-MATE Task 5.

The top scoring Technical Documentation was created by team LAID(b)ACK (an acronym of their team’s initials). They created a compliant manipulator that also improved the stability of the ROV by lowering its center of mass, aiding in the recovery of Madrepora Prolifera coral samples in mini-MATE Task 3.