Pensacola Catholic High School Robotics Team, also known as ‘Crubotics,’ will compete in the MATE (Marine Advanced Technology Education) World Championship for the third year in a row. The event will be held June 19-22 in Kingsport, TN.
Crubotics’ Ranger division team consists of 12 members, ranging from sophomores to seniors, with one to three years of experience. In April, they competed and secured second place in the Northern Gulf Coast Regional, hosted by Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Dauphin Island, AL.
The team, organized as an engineering company, spent approximately 750 hours over the course of the school year planning, building, and testing a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) underwater robot to accomplish simulated real-world scenarios such as scientific observations, the removal of obstacles on the ocean floor, and the placement of simulated SMART sensors along telecommunications lines. The ROV, piloted from the surface, also simulates the restoration of fish species back into their natural ecosystem and biome. Additionally, the team created a float that collects data in a vertical column of the water and then transmits the data to scientists on the surface.
Not only does the Pensacola Catholic Crubotics company have to demonstrate their ROV and the Float as products in the pool, they also have to create technical documentation, present the ROV to judges within the profession, and create a marketing poster highlighting features of the ROV as well as the company.
This year’s theme once again aligns with the “United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development,” inspiring our global community to embrace environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts to create a sustainable future for our ocean planet (materovcompetition.org).
The mentors, Dana Lupton and Eric Requet, as well as the team, would like to thank the MATE ROV Competition and Dauphin Island Sea Lab for the opportunity to compete among 38 other global teams. They also extend their gratitude to their supporters: the school administration, teachers and staff, parents, and financial sponsors: Bear General Contractors, Main Street Construction, Perdido Key Rotary Club, NW Florida IEEE, Blackwater River Tools, D&D Welding, Pensacola Rubber & Gasket, as well as the Hoppe, Neff, and Wiggins families. They truly appreciate the community effort to raise student engagement in engineering competitions, as well as, workforce opportunities even prior to high school graduation. The team is very excited to represent the Northern Gulf Coast Region in the competition!
The MATE World Championship will be livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/mateinspires1.
You can follow the Pensacola Catholic Crubotics team on Facebook and Instagram @pchscrubotics.
