Cabrillo College Robotics Club Wins First Place In World MATE ROV Competition
This team and their winning underwater robot has been invited to exhibit at Blue Innovation 2022.
June 23, 2022 / APTOS, CA — Cabrillo College Robotics Club today announced that its Robotics Club won first place in the MATE ROV Competition, a worldwide, underwater robotics competition held in Long Beach, California. The Cabrillo Robotics Club, represented by Ciaran Farley, Isaac Wax, and Spencer Koontz, was awarded the First Place Overall in the Pioneer Division, as well as the Engineering Presentation Champion award, and the Technical Documentation Champion award. Cabrillo alum Carter Frost assisted with the code.
Timed accordingly near the 25th anniversary of the first rover mission to land on Mars, it was the 20th World Championship of the MATE ROV Competition. MATE international and regional ROV competitions challenge students to design and build underwater robots to tackle mission tasks based upon real world applications.
To compete, the team and their device must:
Launch safely from the side of the pool and maneuvering to tasks.
Complete these required tasks:
Task 1: Marine Renewable Energy
Remove a ghost net from inter-array cable
Pull a pin to simulate cutting the ghost net free
Remove the ghost net from the water
Task 2: Offshore Aquaculture and Blue Carbon
Maintain a healthy environment for fish stock
Collect a mort
Insert a mort into the collection tube
Farm seagrass
Prune an existing seagrass bed
Plant a new seagrass bed
According to its website, for this year’s competition, MATE ROV accepted an invitation from the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development to “explore solutions to problems that impact all of us.” They created the 20th-year missions to address issues in an effort to work towards “delivering the ocean we need for the future we want!”
All of the participating Cabrillo Robotics team members had heard about this competition from their time in high school, and pulled a team together to represent Cabrillo College.
“We brought home an overall win, plus Engineering and Documentation wins! It made all of the lost sleep and time we took off of work well worth it!”
“All three of us had done MATE in high school, in the Scout and Navigator classes that only go to regional competitions,” said Ciaran Farley, Cabrillo student and Robotics Club participant. “Now in college, we had the opportunity to participate in the Pioneer class at the world competition, and we brought home an overall win, plus Engineering and Documentation wins! It made all of the lost sleep and time we took off of work well worth it!”
"I am in awe of the hard work and the brilliance of the club members," said Mike Matera, Faculty Advisor of the Cabrillo Robotics Club. "This win is even more impressive from a team that met mostly online last year. I can't wait to see what they do next."
The Cabrillo Robotics Club team won the following awards:
Pioneer First Place, All-Around Champion ($500 check, four t200 thrusters, 4 esc)
Pioneer Best Engineering Presentation ($100 check, magazine subscription, ROV fellowship membership)
Pioneer Best Technical Documentation ($100 check, magazine subscription, ROV fellowship membership)
About Cabrillo College
Cabrillo College is a leading California community college serving Santa Cruz County with locations in Aptos and Watsonville. It is ranked #1 in transfers to UC Santa Cruz. Founded in 1959, the college offers over 100 academic and career technical education programs that serve multiple educational goals such as A.A. and A.S. degrees, certificates of achievement, skills certificates, transfer to 4-year institutions or for lifelong learning and personal enrichment. With a commitment to quality and equity, Cabrillo connects all learners to pathways that propel them from where they are to where they aspire to be, including: academic, personal, and career growth.
