The "Duxing Poseidon" team, composed of undergraduates from Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU), successfully retained their title as the China Mainland Regional Champions at the 2024 MATE ROV Competition (EXPLORER/RANGER classes), which was held on April 26-28 in Chongqing. Additionally, the XJTU team was recommended for participation in the global finals to be held in the United States in June.

The "Duxing Poseidon" team.

The 2024 MATE ROV Competition (China), themed "Ocean Observation - Understanding Our World, Creating Our Future", follows the guidelines of the global finals process. Participating student teams are required to assume the role of company entrepreneurs and design and develop a tethered underwater robot (ROV) that can complete specified underwater tasks and observation functions within 15 minutes, in accordance with engineering tender tasks and safety design specifications. Through performance comparisons, document reviews, and business presentations, the competition comprehensively assesses university students' professional knowledge, practical engineering abilities, social responsibilities, and innovation and entrepreneurial capabilities.

The XJTU team, with their independently developed underwater robot demonstrating safety and reliability, outstanding performance in performance comparisons, clear business presentation strategies, and detailed and standardized document writing, left a deep impression on the judges and won the overall championship with a significant lead over all competing universities.

Students design and test their ROV.

The MATE ROV Competition is an underwater robotics (aka remotely operated vehicle or ROV) challenge that engages global universities, jointly organized by the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center in the United States, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Marine Technology Society (MTS).

It has been held 22 times to date and spans 42 countries and regions worldwide, attracting over 27,000 participants from more than 2,000 universities and educational institutions such as MIT, the University of Waterloo in Canada, the University of Bristol in the UK, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. It is the largest and most influential international competition in the field of underwater robotics.