Twin Tweaks ...
for the competition, preparing reports
and presentations might seem like
an annoyance but, in fact, these
measures are excellent ways to ensure
that all team members understand the
technical aspects of the robot and to
help everyone practice essential
communication skills. The technical
report, which includes budget sheets
and electrical schematics, also ask
teams to research the usage of ROVs
in mid-ocean research. This was a
great way for everyone to learn more
about the enigmatic and exciting
world of underwater robotics.
After turning in our technical report,
finishing our poster, and preparing our
engineering presentation, we were
ready for the competition.
Everything You
Wanted to Know
About Ocean Floor
Spreading but Were
Afraid to Ask
A roaring crowd, energetic music,
and an eccentric announcer that
galvanizes teams — this may sound
like a high energy sports competition
or a regional from the legendary FIRST
competition, but this was actually the
opening ceremony of the 7th annual
International Championship of the
MATE ROV Competition. Teams were
greeted by the organizers of the competition, and a surprisingly technical
talk was given by a member of Ridge
2000, an organization dedicated to
the study of mid-ocean ridges.
Teams were introduced through
the energetic “team roll call” and we
were really able to appreciate the
THE VENT IS IN SIGHT!
16 SERVO 09.2008
competition’s international credentials.
In addition to having teams from
everywhere in the US from San Diego
to Boston, numerous foreign countries
were represented. Teams from Canada,
Russia, Hong Kong, and Scotland had
all descended upon San Diego to
compete with their aquatic bots. There
were 52 teams competing in the
Ranger and Explorer classes, boasting
a combined total of about 660 participants. And if one was to consider all
of the regional contests, the MATE
Competition would have hosted a
staggering grand total of 250 teams.
After a quick overview of the
missions and the schedule for the
three days of the competition, teams
were let loose to set up their stations.
It was truly a feat of organization
and spatial reasoning that the MATE
organizers were able to fit 52 teams
around the pool while giving everyone
room to work and spectators room to
watch. An understandable sacrifice
was that teams needed to provide
their own seating in their work areas,
but on the first day we weren’t sitting
around enough for that to be a
problem. Thursday was a day for last
minute tweaking, buoyancy adjustment, and testing. In the afternoon,
we were also tasked with giving our
Engineering Evaluation to the judges.
Our first order of business was to
see that everything worked on dry
land. The motors seemed to be
working, but then we fired up our
extra arm. When we first tested our
sweeping arm, we were distressed
to learn that it only swept in one
direction. A quick inspection of the
control box revealed that we had
forgotten to solder two more wires
TACKLING THE OBS.
between the legs of the switch.
Thankfully, we had brought a soldering
iron and thankfully one of the teams
next to us was generous enough to
spare a socket on their surge protector.
And that sort of generosity and
helpfulness was characteristic of all of
the teams at the MATE Competition.
Announcements were made throughout
the weekend of teams in need of
extra parts or extra hands, and participants were always quick to come to
the aid of their fellow competitors.
Other than the minor setback
with the arm, everything else seemed
to be in working order — now it was
time to put the bot in the pool. In our
last article, we mentioned how we
tested the bot in a laundry cart, but
that was before we added our arm
and temperature sensor. Putting a robot
in a pool is an interesting experience
that comes with its own unique combination of anticipation and dread;
seeing your creation swim off into the
great blue deep is quite liberating in
the Free Willy sense, but then there is
the constant threat of electrocution
and disaster that is akin to what we
think Johnny 5 would have felt if he
were tasked with finding Nemo. But
with time running low and our supply
of comforting film allusions dwindling,
we were forced to take the plunge.
Our little ROV fared quite well in
the water, but it took quite a few tie
wraps and Styrofoam blocks for the
bot to get its sea legs. The MATE
Competition offered scheduled
practice times during the day, but
since we had our own power source
(a 12 volt battery) we were able to
test at our leisure. After zipping the
robot around in the pool for a bit, we
were satisfied that everything was in
working order. Now it was time to
give our engineering evaluation.
We Have Got Some
Explaining to Do
The Engineering Evaluation was a
technical presentation given to three
of the esteemed MATE judges. The
judges asked questions about our
build process and our creative design
choices. We were afraid that the
