Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland

Memorial University and its Marine Institute (MI) are celebrating the Eastern Edge Robotics team’s second place triumph in the Explorer class during the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center’s 12^th annual International Student ROV Competition.

Eastern Edge competed amongst teams from the United States, United Kingdom, Egypt, China, Russia and Saudi Arabia in Seattle, Washington from June 20-22 with their Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), an underwater robot.  The team has placed in the top three, eight times since 2003.

The theme for this year’s competition focused on the importance of ocean observation systems, and the role ROVs play in the installation, operation, and maintenance of cabled underwater observatories. These observatories provide continuous information about many different elements of the ocean and have been used to predict weather for the past two decades.

MI also supports the annual regional MATE Scout (junior high school) and Ranger (high school) competitions in the province. First and second place Ranger winners from the NL regional competition earned the right to compete in the international competition.

The 1^st place regional NL  team from Heritage Collegiate took second place overall in the Ranger class at the international competition, while the 2^nd place regional team from O’Donel High School  received the Ranger class Aloha Team Spirit Award and a 1^st place finish in the engineering panel portion of the competition.

“The MATE ROV competition provides an excellent forum to engage our province’s youth in learning about ocean technology opportunities globally.” said Dwight Howse, head, MI’s School of Ocean Technology. “We are extremely proud of the Eastern Edge Robotics, Heritage Collegiate and O’Donel High School teams and their success.  They truly demonstrate that this province is able to hold its head high when it comes to ocean technology capability on an international level.”

These teams were supported by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Statoil, Exxon Mobil, Hibernia, Husky, Suncor Energy, GRI Simulations, SubSea 7, the MATE Center, Memorial University and its Marine Institute and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.