MATE ROV International Competition
January - October 2015
When I was member of the HKUST Robotics Team, we participated in the MATE ROV international competition for which my team built an underwater robot meant to address the challenges of offshore operations and marine conservation efforts in arctic environments.
I was in charge of designing the overall frame of the robot as well as some of its manipulators
Competition ROV
The ROV had to complete three very different missions, which prompted me to design a modular frame to support different configurations of manipulators. The frame was almost entirely made from wire cut 7075 aluminum, except for two machined 0603 aluminum plates that for the main watertight chamber housing the electronics and standard bent stainless steel connectors.
Our team achieved 3rd place internationally in the Explorer category, and won the “Sharkpedo award for design and creativity”.
Example of three different manipulator configurations
STEM kit
After the competition, a teammate and I decided to run a workshop for 20 primary school kids, teaching STEM through building underwater robots. We developed a simple kit the children could assemble and customise. We sold 30 additional kits to educators in Hong Kong after this first successful workshop.
CAD and assembled kit