Grove Academy takes top spot for third time in engineering competition

A team of pupils from Grove Academy have engineered a hat trick of wins in an annual competition held at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.
Mark Dowie
By Mark Dowie
Published 2nd May 2022, 16:24 GMT
Pictured is the winning Grove Academy team. (Ross Henderson)Pictured is the winning Grove Academy team. (Ross Henderson)
Pictured is the winning Grove Academy team. (Ross Henderson)

They recently took part in the MATE Scotland ROV (Remote Operated Vehicles) competition, co-ordinated by RGU, which saw five secondary school teams from across the North east put underwater robots, which they designed and built themselves, through a series of missions for a place in the World Championships.

The Broughty Ferry school chalked up its third win after the team’s robot, ‘Discovery’ emerged victorious, after a panel of industry experts scored the teams on how well they completed the missions.

They also took into consideration the technical reports, poster displays and engineering presentations which the pupils were also required to produce.

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A second team from Grove Academy, ‘Nerv’ also took home the second place. Both ‘Discovery’ and ‘Nerv’ will now be able compete in the MATE’s 20th World Championship which is scheduled to take place in Long Beach City College from June 23 – 25.

Every year, the pupils are tasked with tackling real-world problems from around the world. The themes for this year are based around the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, and included Marine Renewable Energy, Offshore Aquaculture and Blue Carbon, and ‘The Antarctic: Then and Now’.

The major STEM initiative aims to inspire future engineers through hands-on experience of designing ROVs used underwater in the oil and gas, defence, oceanology and marine renewables industries.

The MATE competition requires students to think of themselves as entrepreneurs and transform their teams into companies that manufacture, market, and sell ‘products’.

James Philp, RGU engineering lecturer, said: “This year marks not only our return to the pool at RGU:Sport after Covid-19, but also MATE’s 20th World Championship.

"The event really did highlight the importance of collaborative effort in STEM, and I hope all the participants gained valuable experience of real-world Engineering and Business Management, while also engaging in some friendly competition.”.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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