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DEVELOPING FUTURE TALENT IN MARINE TECHNOLOGY
by KAUST
KAUST hosts a new marine technology robotics competition for students
In May 2023, KAUST hosted a new marine technology robotics competition in partnership with the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center. MATE’s mission is to inspire and challenge students to learn and creatively apply STEM skills to solve realworld problems and prepare them for the blue economy workforce. Its non-profit arm, MATE Inspiration for Innovation, is responsible for educational activities, including the MATE ROV Competition, for students from middle
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KAUST’s leadership in Red Sea research, the MTS Red Sea school to the undergraduate level. The event challenges participants to design, build and fund underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for underwater tasks. MATE facilitates regional competitions and an annual world championship every year in the United States. Regional competitions have been held all over the world, including in 19 countries last year. efforts to become a global leader in this field. The MATE Red Sea Regional ROV Competition was partly the result of cooperation with the Marine Technology Society (MTS), which set up a new chapter, the MTS Red Sea Section, at the beginning of this year in partnership with KAUST.
The MATE Red Sea Regional ROV Competition at KAUST was the first in Saudi Arabia. Eight teams participated from schools across the Kingdom, with KAUST staff and students acting as team mentors in the months leading up to the event, as well as volunteering their time to set up underwater obstacles and judge the event.
For more than 50 years, MTS has promoted marine technology as a solution to global challenges. As part of this effort, it recently took responsibility for MATE Inspiration for Innovation. The MTS Red Sea Section is an official partnership with KAUST and will provide a number of programs to promote marine technology in the Middle East.
Also in May, in conjunction with the MATE Red Sea Regional ROV Competition, MTS assisted with RobotoKAUST 2023, a three-day conference that brought leading researchers in academia and industry from 10 countries to exchange their knowledge and expertise of robotics in marine and agricultural science.
