The weekend of May 6th the Labrador Straits Academy (LSA) Underwater Robotics Club (Shark Tech) achieved tremendous success at the Provincial MATE ROV Underwater Robotics Competition at the Marine Institute in St. John’s, placing second in the overall event and earned the right to participate in the 2023 MATE ROV World Championship in Denver Colorado, 21-24 June 2023. They will be one of two teams representing NL, and Canada competing with 30-plus teams from 17-plus countries around the world. The other team representing NL, and Canada is Mount Pearl Senior High.

The MATE ROV competition is an underwater robotics (aka Remotely Operated Vehicle or ROV) challenge that engages a global community of learners each year. The competition challenges each team to design and build an ROV and the necessary sensors and tooling to support work to combat climate change, provide clean energy, feed our growing global population, monitor ocean health, preserve our maritime history, and deliver together the ocean we need for the future we want.

LSA Shark Tech are the first-ever team to advance in the competition from Labrador, and the first Canadian team to advance to the world championship from their first competition. This is an amazing opportunity for the 10 students and an outstanding accomplishment for the whole community. The team has spent over 1200 hours on this project, and are ready to compete against the world to represent the school, our community, our province, and our country.