As a team captain and the only senior on the team, I led my high school’s MATE ROV underwater robotics team, which won the 2022 New England regional and competed at the 20th MATE ROV World Championship later that summer. This was my first team-based robotics project and a formative experience that solidified my passion for robotics.

Since it was our first year competing, we had to build the ROV from scratch, unlike other teams that iterated on previous designs. The biggest challenge was waterproofing and ensuring neutral buoyancy while ensuring reliable electrical connections. Given our limited experience and time, we opted for a robust but simple robot and gripper design, trading specialization for versatility.

I was involved in high-level decision-making, low-level motor control programming, buoyancy adjustments, and strain relief design. Through this project, I gained hands-on experience with PWM motor control, ROV design and industry standards, waterproofing techniques, and the importance of neutral buoyancy, along with valuable teamwork and leadership skills.

Following my graduation, the team has continued to excel at underwater robotics, reaching the world championship the following two years (2023 & 2024) before deciding to move on to independently designing an improved ROV for practical use in deep-sea/high-pressure deployment, work on which is currently ongoing.

Acronym Explanation: 

(S.T.E.V.E. R.O.V. – Sunk Technologies Environmental Vocationally Engineered Remote Operated Vehicle)

Explanation: Our team name was Sunk Technologies, and the team was run out of my high school’s robotics vocational shop.