The Dauphin Island Sea Lab’s Discovery Hall Programs hosted the 13th annual Northern Gulf Coast Regional MATE ROV Competition this weekend.

Eighteen teams from four states competed with their custom-built remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). The competition is part of the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) network, which includes 40 regional competitions held across the U.S. and worldwide.

Each year, MATE creates a scenario to inspire and challenge the students to apply science, technology, engineering, and math to solve real-world problems. Focusing on education, the competition emphasizes strengthening students’ critical thinking, teamwork, entrepreneurship, and innovation skills.

For the 2026 competition, teams will compete in mission tasks focusing on the ability of wind turbines to power offshore oil rigs, mapping the seabed and documenting discoveries, deploying instrumentation and monitoring the health of cold-water habitats, and operating equipment under the ice.

“It’s impressive each year to see how these teams develop their robots with the missions created by MATE for the competition,” DISL ROV Competition Coordinator Rachel McDonald said. “This includes using materials that are safe for the environment.”

There are three class levels, Scout, Navigator, and Ranger, within the MATE competition framework for elementary, middle, and high school students. In each class, the missions and ROVs become more complex. The team’s engineering presentations address the design of their robot, the challenges they faced, and the lessons learned.

The winners in the Scout Challenge Class are: 3rd Place: Seagulls, Bayshore Christian (Daphne, AL) 2nd Place: CRYO Tech, Fairview High School (Cullman, AL) 1st Place: A2O Atlantis Scout, Acorns 2 Oaks (Slidell, LA)

The winners in the Navigator Challenge Class are: 3rd Place: Glacier Titans, Fairview High School (Cullman, AL) 2nd Place: Maelstroms, Fairview High School (Cullman, AL) 1st Place: A2O Atlantis Navigator, Acorns 2 Oaks (Slidell, LA)

The winners in the Ranger Challenge Class are: 3rd Place: Trojan Triremes, Carrollton High School (Carrollton, GA) 2nd Place: Crubotics, Pensacola Catholic High School, (Pensacola, FL) 1st Place: GEARS, Eastwood Presbyterian Church School (Montgomery, AL)

Each year, specialty awards are presented by the judges and volunteers. Frigid Expeditionaires from Walker High School received the Buoyancy Award for a positive attitude to overcome buoyancy issues on deck in an innovative way.

The CyDivers from Walker High School earned the Tethered Together Award for exceptional teamwork. The judges commented that they were always laughing and singing songs even when things didn’t go to plan.

The Scallywags from Walker High School received the People’s Choice Award for Best Scout Poster.

From the 13th Northern Gulf Coast Regional, the GEARS of Eastwood Presbyterian Church School in Montgomery, Alabama, earned the opportunity to represent the Region in the MATE World Championship this year.

This year’s judges for the pool and engineering presentations included Tim Johnson with Alabama Technology and Motion, Jessica Gilpin with Auburn College of Science and Math, Steve Sempier the Director of Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant, Jonathan O’Neal with Thompson Engineering, Tony Saucier and James Hotard with Oceaneering, and Terry Ayers and Jeremy Wilt with Wallace State.

The MATE Regional ROV Competition is part of Discovery Hall’s K-12 STEM Programs.

The 14th annual Northern Gulf Coast Regional is set for April 23-25, 2027.

More information on the competition can be found on the MATE Competition website at https://materovcompetition.org.

For information and videos of previous competitions, check out disl.edu/dhp/stem.