Imagine a scene where 63 teams from across the universe (well, planet Earth) are huddled in Longmont, Colorado for a royal rumble of the tech kind, the MATE ROV World Championship. The shining star amidst this galaxy of talents? Santa Cruz's very own XAcademy team, ranking a stellar 5th among the high-school Ranger class, scoring a super cool 435 out of a possible 695 points.

You may ask, what's this all about? Well, the Championship challenges students to create, construct, and trial underwater robots that could pass as extras in a sci-fi movie. These robots are tasked to undertake missions resembling a UN-level agenda for Sustainable Development goals. Competition stages include - 'Show and Tell' of products, 'Pitch Perfect' presentations, 'Tech-Writing 101', and 'Don't Forget Safety' rounds among others. X Academy's star players snagged 3rd in presentations, 5th in demo, and 5th in documentation - a great hat trick!

Kai Herbst, one of the champs, reflected on the wild ride, “This ride was more roller-coaster-y than the Gravitron at the state fair. Our motley crew learned big-league STEM skills, built a rockstar robot, and figured out team dynamics across five different schools. Plus, we learned the art of problem-solving when Murphy's Law made guest appearances.”

The Championship requires students to behave like startup founders, promoting entrepreneurial thinking, business sense, and project management skills. The 2023 Championship threw down the gauntlet to engineer an ROV (the underwater equivalent of a drone), equipped to install solar panels at sea, and act as caretaker to coral reefs and fishy friends - all within the cozy boundaries of a pool.

The MATE ROV Competition, now a well-respected veteran of the tech scene since its inception in 1997, is helmed by the Marine Technology Society. Hephaestus Robotics, the trailblazers of the X Academy, sealed their ticket to the World Championship after securing 2nd place at the Monterey Bay Regional competition. Competing with them were qualifying teams from 12 countries and 18 American states.

This band of students, representing five schools and assembling their brainchild, the ROV Talos III and Vulcan II, are truly the avengers of the tech world. They mastered coding, engineered circuit boards, 3D printed, laser cut custom parts, and assembled their brainchild at the X Academy Maker Space, making them the pride of Santa Cruz.

About XAcademy

The team’s sponsor, the X Academy [link:http://www.xacademy.org], is a Santa Cruz 501(c)(3) non-profit organization offering STEM enrichment programs to middle and high school students since 2014 by parent volunteers. This is the third robotics team sponsored by the XAcademy. Its teams won 3rd place in the 2022 regional competition and 7th place in the World Championship telepresence division in 2021. The XAcademy’s flagship program, the Santa Cruz Math Circle, has engaged nearly 400 students from 26 schools in college-level mathematics, serving 30 percent Latinx students, 40 percent girls, while providing financial assistance for 25 percent of its students.