Robot rumble: International ROV competition converges on St. John's
Hundreds of students from all over the world have descended upon Memorial University's Marine Institute in St. John's, N.L., for an underwater robot battle.
The major international competition, called the MATE ROV Challenge, involves students designing and building their own remotely operated underwater vehicle.
Those robots are then put through the paces at the university's test tank.
About 700 high school and university students from around the world travelled to St. John's for the competition.
Each team has to run its robot through a series of underwater challenges that simulate the jobs ROVs are used for in the working world.
"Well, this is our thing, right?" said student Hugh Sommerset of Hong Kong. "Some people have basketball, this is what we want to watch. If there was like a World Cup of this, we would watch this."
The purpose is for students to simulate real world jobs with their ROVs.
"The centre is about workforce development and certainly this competition is helping to develop the next generation of marine technical professionals, so it's huge," said Jill Zande, co-ordinator with the Marine Advanced Technology and Education Centre in the United States.
There are several teams from Newfoundland and Labrador competing, along with teams from as far away as Russia, China and Mexico.
The competition will run through June 27.
