Slugbotics: Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Competition Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV)

Principal Investigator(s): 
Rohan Tuli, Theo Kell, Ryan Meckel, Wren Sakai, Kanoa Nakama, Catherine Lee
Executive Summary: 

 

The Slugbotics research team is completing an ROV to compete in the annual MATE (Marine Advanced Technology Education) competition at the Explorer level. The objectives and goals of this competition change yearly, requiring a new ROV to be built, providing a chance for constant innovation and improvement. The 2018 competition is held in the Seattle area and is themed around the work that professional ROVs perform in the local area, such as the recovery of airplane wreckage from the bottom of Lake Washington, installing tidal turbine equipment, and gathering seismic earthquake activity using an ocean bottom sensor. 

 

Slugbotics is a student organization at UC Santa Cruz focused on introducing students to underwater robotics. They design, program, fabricate, and test ROVs (Remote Operated Vehicles) that are designed to complete complex tasks in a marine environment. In addition to the MATE competition, Slugbotics also serves as a community education and outreach group. They assist with the organization and running of the Monterey/Watsonville MATE regional, showing younger teams what a college level ROV looks like and giving them possibilities for their future builds.