The Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center at Monterey Peninsula College (MPC) invites you to our 17th Annual Monterey Bay Regional ROV Contest, one of 30 regional events that are part of MATE’s international ROV competition. More than 70 elementary, middle, high, and home school teams from Monterey, Salinas, Pacific Grove, Hollister, San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, and the San Francisco Bay area are designing and building ROVs (underwater robots) to compete in the event, which takes place at Aptos High School in Aptos, CA on Saturday, May 13th from 10:00am to 4:00pm. The awards ceremony will be held at ~4:30pm in the Aptos High School gymnasium.
This year’s contest highlights the role of ROVs in securing the health and safety of today’s seaports and how they can help lay the groundwork for the port cities of the future. Like port managers, the students will operate their ROVs to tackle tasks that include finding containers that fell into the sea from a cargo ship, constructing an underwater tunnel, and cleaning up contaminated sediment. However, instead of piloting their ROVs in sometimes confined and precarious actual port conditions, the students will safely work in the Aptos High School swimming pool.
In addition to the underwater mission tasks, the students will exhibit poster displays that describe their vehicle, its various control, buoyancy, and propulsion systems, and the members of their team. The students will also deliver presentations about the science and engineering behind their vehicle to a group of professional engineers and ROV pilots/technicians from local organizations, such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. During their presentation, the students will have the opportunity to learn more about these industry professionals and the work that they do – and hopefully become inspired to pursue careers in ocean science, technology, and engineering!
All total, we expect more than 300 students, instructors, parents, cheerleaders, judges, and volunteers to take part. We encourage you to join us for this fun, exciting, and educational event!
