On the shores of the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia… a fitting location for The KAUST School to host the Saudi Arabia Mate-ROV Regional Competition. As Saudi Arabia seeks to develop the ocean/marine workers of the future, and as KAUST – in support of this mission – delivers a wide range of ocean and marine research and projects, the Mate-ROV program is a great fit for the strategy.
In the program, students are encouraged to run their team as a company, and the Regional and World competitions not only test the performance of the underwater ROVs, but the teams are also scored on their marketing materials, company information and technical documentation.
Over two days, 10 teams of students – in SCOUT, NAVIGATOR and RANGER class – completed the different elements of the competition – presenting their documents and marketing displays to a panel of judges, and putting the ROVs through their paces during the pool missions.
Red Sea Robotics – a team from TKS – were the ultimate winners and will now represent Saudi Arabia in the World Competition, which will be held in Kingsport, Tennessee in June.
The Mate-ROV program is an excellent example of how students at The KAUST School are able to benefit from the expertise and resources at the KAUST university. The program is delivered as a true partnership between TKS, KAUST Enrichment for Youth (KEY), the KAUST Coral Restoration Initiative, the Coastal and Marine Resources lab, the Marine Microbiomes Lab (a part of the Red Sea Research Center), and the Robotics, Intelligent Systems & Control (RISC) lab. The competition itself would not be possible without the support of many individuals from across the school and university.
The Mate-ROV program is delivered in schools across the world – and there will be 90 teams competing at the World Competition – from Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Mexico, Singapore, Turkey, UAE, Uganda, UK, … and right across the US. We are excited for the opportunity that the Red Sea Robotics team have, and know that they will do The KAUST School, KAUST and Saudi Arabia proud!
Click here and here to see all the photos and videos from the Saudi Arabia Regional Competition.