Seawolves head for world championship

Copiah-Lincoln Community College’s underwater robotics engineering team, the Seawolves, are headed to the 2021 Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) World Championship. This year’s competition will be held at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. Advisors Dr. Kevin McKone and Carey Williamson accompanied three team members, Megan Arnold of McComb, Greyson Graves of Magee, and Roger Rushing of Brookhaven.

The team will compete in two product demonstrations where they have 15 minutes to complete multiple underwater missions with their custom-built robot. They will also be judged by industry engineers on an engineering presentation, a 25-page technical document, and a poster presentation.

Each year, the MATE ROV Competition brings together a global community of learners to tackle real-world problems from around the globe. This year, competitors are challenged to address issues such as plastics clogging our rivers, lakes, waterways, and oceans, climate change raising ocean temperatures, contaminants in our waterways, and other relevant issues.

The Seawolves are grateful for Georgia Pacific in Monticello, a long-time partner who sponsors the team and provided funding for the new Engineering Design Lab on the Wesson Campus. The new lab was used to manufacture numerous parts for this year’s robot with the help of Co-Lin engineering instructor Dr. Reed Freeman and his students. Special appreciation also goes to Precision Machining Instructor Bo Johnson and Brookhaven Country Club for allowing the team to practice at their pool.

The Seawolves will compete at the World Championship on Thurs., Aug. 5 at 3 p.m. CST, and Friday, Aug. 6 at 2:30 p.m. CST. The competition will be broadcast live at https://www.twitch.tv/mateinspires1.