Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland

Ranger teams from Mount Pearl Senior High School and O’Donel High placed first and second overall, while Heritage Collegiate of Lethbridge placed third overall at the 13th Annual Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) NL Regional Competition held at the Marine Institute May 2-4.

The top two Ranger teams earn the opportunity to participate in the 2019 MATE International ROV Competition in Kingsport, Tennessee, taking place June 20-22.‌

They were among the more than 300 students and mentors from 30 junior high schools and high schools across Newfoundland and Labrador that took part in the NL Regional ROV Competition at MI’s flume tank.

In all, 11 teams participated in the Ranger class: Mount Pearl Senior High, Gonzaga High School, Prince of Wales Collegiate, O’Donel High School, Ascension Collegiate, Leo Burke Academy, Holy Spirit High, Heritage Collegiate, Holy Trinity High, Carbonear Collegiate and Lewisporte Collegiate.

Eastern Edge

The Eastern Edge Robotics team will also take part in next month’s international competition in the Explorer class.

The team consists of 22 post-secondary students from the Marine Institute and Memorial University enrolled in a variety of programs, including ROV technician, computer science, ocean mapping, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer engineering, and ocean and naval architectural engineering.

Eastern Edge Robotics has earned top honours four times at the annual MATE International ROV Competition, most recently in 2016.

Scout class competition

In the Scout class competition for junior high schools, St. Mark’s School of King’s Cove placed first overall, Heritage Collegiate of Lethbridge came in second and Brookside Intermediate School of Portugal Cove-St. Phillips placed third.

The Scout competition wrapped up Thursday, May 3.

Twenty-one teams participated in the Scout class: Hillview Academy, St. Mark’s, Holy Trinity High, Mount Pearl Intermediate, Brookside, Villanova Junior High, Heritage, Eric G. Lambert School, Pasadena Academy, Frank Roberts Junior High, Mount Pearl Senior High School, Macdonald Drive Junior High, Setanewey School, Beaconsfield Junior High, Immaculate Heart of Mary School, Leo Burke Academy, Lewisporte Intermediate and Mobile Central High.

Each team designed, built and piloted their ROVs – tackling missions modelled on scenarios in ocean industries. Missions included inspecting and repairing a hydroelectric dam, monitoring water quality, determining habitat diversity, restoring fish habitat, and recovering a 19th-century cannon and identifying the location of the cannon shells.

Ranger competition awards

This year a new award, Female Trailblazer, was presented to Jadzia Penney from Leo Burke Academy’s ROV team.

The Steve Brown MATE ROV Leadership Award was presented to Colby Pryor of Ascension Collegiate. This award was established in memory of the late Steve Brown, an avid ROV team member who passed away in 2012.

The Rising Star award went to the Lewisporte Collegiate Ranger team.

Teams were also recognized for their marketing displays, engineering presentations and ROV product demonstration.

In the product demonstration category, first place went to Mount Senior High, while Leo Burke Academy and O’Donel High tied for second place, and Heritage Collegiate and Holy Spirit High tied for third place.‌

In the marketing display category, Mount Pearl Senior High placed first, while Heritage Collegiate came in second and O’Donel High placed third.

For product presentation, Heritage Collegiate placed first, Mount Pearl Senior High came in second and O’Donel High School received third place.

Support

The 2019 regional competition was supported by Hibernia Management and Development Co., Equinor, Subsea7, Suncor Energy, Fugro Canada, Chevron Atlantic Canada, SEAMOR Marine Ltd., GRi Simulations Inc., PanGeo Subsea, SubC Imaging, Ocean Quest, Crosbie Salamis Ltd., Cooke Aquaculture, Kraken Robotics Inc., Husky Energy, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University.