The Gray’s Reef Southeast Region MATE (Marine Advanced Technical Education) ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) underwater robotics competition challenges K-12, community college, and university students to design and build ROVs to tackle realistic missions modeled after actual scenarios from ocean exploration and maritime industry services. Students are encouraged to think of themselves as “entrepreneurs,” marketing themselves and their product to an advanced marketplace.
Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary is Georgia’s national underwater park and is teeming with marine life. Boaters, anglers, SCUBA divers and explorers of all kind enjoy the wonders of this natural live-bottom reef, which is an essential habitat for the health of our ocean ecosystem.
Gray’s Reef uses underwater robots called to observe the natural resources found within the sanctuary and surrounding marine ecosystem. Furthermore, ROVs are used for exploration and research throughout our global ocean, and specifically in NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary System. The Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary Foundation currently manages this regional competition.
MATE ROV building workshops and competitions provide a vehicle to apply STEM education concepts, preparing students for secondary education and careers, and offering educators training and expertise in applied technologies.
Results/Conclusions
Students (N=1,939), parents (N=397), and educators (N=349) were surveyed after the 2018 competition. Participants responded that the ROV program increased their STEM career awareness (80%), interest in learning more STEM subjects (86%), and other encouraging signs for future involvement. Multi-year participants showed significantly stronger positive results in STEM education and career involvement.
The 2019 MATE ROV competition will include challenges that focus on infrastructure repair, water quality monitoring, and historical preservation. Participants will range from middle school students to undergraduates, and they are separated by skill level, not age group. Survey results from this competition will be included in this presentation.