A
team of budding engineers from Grove Academy in Dundee have taken the top prize
at the MATE Scotland ROV competition.
The
pupils were among five secondary school teams from around Scotland who faced
off at Robert Gordon University (RGU) to put their robots through a series of
underwater missions for a place in the World Championships in USA.
The
win by XTRa Tropical Robotics from Grove Academy means they will compete in the
MATE (Marine Advanced Technology Education Center) 21st World Championship which
is scheduled to take place in Longmont, Colorado from June 22 to 24.
They
were victorious after a panel of experts scored all the teams on how well they
completed the underwater missions, as well as taking into consideration the
technical reports, safety inspections, poster displays, and engineering
presentations the pupils were required to produce.
This
year, as with the last few years, the event highlighted the United Nations
Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and inspiring pupils to
embrace environmental, social and governance efforts to create a sustainable
future on our ocean planet. Pupils used their Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs)
in a range of tasks around marine renewable energy, monitoring ocean health and
the health of water ways.
Eventual
winners were XTRa Tropical Robotics from Grove Academy, with Mintlaw ROV from
Mintlaw Academy in 2nd place, and Bluetoon ROVers from Peterhead Academy in 3rd
place. Mintlaw and Peterhead also won the Safety, and Teamwork awards
respectively with Encouragement for Future Development prizes being awarded to Robert
Gordon’s College in Ranger class and Keith Grammar School in the Navigator
class at the event on Thursday 20 April.
The
MATE Scotland ROV competition, co-ordinated and hosted by RGU, and this year
also sponsored by RGU, was held at RGU Sport with the swimming pool being the
centre of the robotics action, where the ROVs were plunged into the water in
front of expert judges from Serica Energy, OneROV: Technip FMC and RGU’s School
of Engineering.
The
major STEM initiative aims to inspire future engineers through hands-on
experience of designing (ROVs) used underwater in the oil and gas, defence,
oceanology and marine renewables industries. The MATE competition requires
students to think of themselves as entrepreneurs and transform their teams into
companies that manufacture, market, and sell ‘products’.
It
is one of 24 regional heats held around the world by the Marine Advanced
Technology Education (MATE) Centre in California and all the regional winners
then travel to compete in this year’s world championship final which will be
held in Colorado.
RGU
engineering lecturer James Philp and MATE Scotland Regional co-ordinator, Dr
Rosslyn Shanks, said: “The pupils taking part in this event pick up important
engineering skills when it comes to designing and building the ROVs as well as
working as part of a team and taking on challenges faced by those working to
protect our environment every day. We are proud to be able to host this year’s
event and it is part of RGU’s strategic aim to widen access to learning and
extend the reach of our education.”
Jack
Waghorn, Head of Design and Technology at Grove Academy, said: “The MATE ROV
competition fits well into our curriculum as project-based learning and the
team were pleased to win, in what was a challenging and close competition this
year. They are all looking forward to competing at the World Championships.”
The
MATE Scotland ROV competition is searching for sponsorship for future events
with the wish to expand to more schools competing and any interested companies
or individuals can contact materov@rgu.ac.uk
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