Not Your Typical Science Competition!
Imagine teaming up with some of your best friends to create some underwater robots that could possibly help solve some real world problems? Sounds like a fantastic game show idea right....Robot Wars anyone?
Well this dream is more than certainly a reality, and has actually been taking place now for 20 years! Welcome to the Mate ROV World Championships!
Your's truly was invited to cover and provide social content for the 20th anniversary of the MATE ROV World Championship event in Long Beach, CA. This incredible event brings together students from all across the globe to compete in a series of challenges where they can utilize and implement their engineering skills. This year's theme was based around the UN Decade of the Ocean challenge, and teams were able to develop and design ROVs to accomplish particular tasks to help solve climate problems. Issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, and food shortage are all important ones that we are working to solve on a daily basis, and students here were able to complete challenges that directly addressed them.
I have to say the innovation, creativity, and knowledge that were on display throughout this week's event were incredible. Not only did students bring some unique engineering designs to the table, they also demonstrated impressive knowledge of electrical & mechanical engineering concepts, and were able to articulate their thoughts and concerns about the climate crisis. I interviewed a number of teams and had a chance to connect one on one with students to hear all of their perspectives. Teamwork was key to all of the teams competing, as every member had a specific role and contributed so much to the mission's success.
I'll be piecing together an amazing highlight video of the entire event as part of my collaboration with MATE. The goal will be to not only spark curiosity in other students that may be interested in participating, but also to reach underserved and underrepresented students that may not have access to competitions like these. Hopefully in the near future, we can continue to bring this unique form of hands-on STEAM education to more classrooms across the globe, and to a much wider diverse audience that can fall in love with science & engineering in a whole new way.
