Indian students win team spirit award at NASA competition

The team named ‘Screwdrivers’ from Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management, Mumbai, won ‘Aloha Team Spirit’ award at the Mate International ROV Competition at the NASA Johnson Space Centre, Neutral Buoyancy Lab here. 

The award is given to the team that shows enthusiasm, exemplary communication within the team, responsive interactions with other teams and for best team jersey. There are about 5-7 awards that are based on different judging criteria like safety, innovation, product demonstration, marketing and team spirit. 

The entire team wore Indian attire consisting of saris and kurtas to bring their culture to the competition. “It was a huge success with people from different nations who had never seen our national dress,” excited members from team screwdrivers told PTI. 

Two judges came up to us and said that all the judges were unanimous and clear in their decision, that no other team was even nominated for the spirit award, they said.  The team competed against 40 other teams from countries including China, Scotland, Russia, USA, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, Denmark, Egypt, Turkey, and Poland in NASA’s 15th annual international Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) competition in Houston. 

The MATE Center uses underwater robots – also known as remotely operated vehicles or ROVs – to teach science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and prepare students for technical careers.  The MATE competition challenges K-12, community college, and university students from all over the world to design and build ROVs to tackle missions modelled after scenarios from the ocean workplace.