In just their second year of existence, the River City Early College underwater robotics teams is already taking big leaps.

Last year, the team built its robot out of PVC pipe and ran into issues when one of their propellers came off. They took last year’s disappointment in stride and came back this year with an aluminum frame robot that sailed through the competition without any issues.

The nine-member team, made up of only freshmen and sophomores from River City, recently placed third in the 6th annual Regional MATE ROV Competition at Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama.

“It was amazing,” team president Evelyn Pitts said. “Last year being eighth out of 12 and this year being third out eight, was a major improvement. That really was what we were looking for — improvement. When they called the points, we didn’t even think it was us.”

The robotics team received their instructions for this year’s contest in late 2017 and then spent the last few months designing, fabricating and programing the robot to compete.

“I was so impressed with them,” team mentor and RCEC math teacher Karin Marshall said. “They worked well together. This year, I was a lot more hands off and I would really delegate. I am so proud of them especially Evelyn. I gave her a lot of responsibility this year.”

The team’s robot had to complete a series of challenges in the contest including surveying a mock plane crash site at the bottom of a pool, moving various props made of PVC pipe and more. The challenges all have to be completed using the cameras built onto the robot as the pilots are unable to see into the pool throughout the contest.

The entire contest is set up to simulate a company pitching their product to a potential buyer looking to complete specific tasks. Along with preforming tasks in the pool, the team had to give a presentation on their robot and answer detailed questions about its performance.

“At the competition, the administrators come up to me, the CEO, and not Ms. Marshall when we are doing the presentation,” Pitts said. “At competition when we were doing the competition, they show you the points and the CEO signs off on them and can negotiate that, ‘hey, I think this was a prop issue and not a robot issue.’”

The nine-member team includes seven girls and two boys, and Marshall said she was impressed with the growth they showed this year. Next year, the plan is to have the upperclassman move up to compete in the ranger class in the competition while new members build a robot for the navigator class, where the team has competed the last two years.

“I was really impressed with my girls,” Marshall said. “Some of them came in and they didn’t know the difference between a Phillips screwdriver and a flat head screwdriver, but we taught them that and I think they gained a lot of experience. I am super proud of my team. They did all the work.”