This is the third time that I’ve worked on the Maritime RobotX Challenge, but the first time I wasn’t able to be there in person to watch the teams compete. 21 teams raised money, designed and created the mechanics needed to carry out specified tasks, and programmed those parts to carry out said tasks autonomously – all while documenting their process and discoveries through team videos and detailed websites. This year, I judged the teams’ websites.

The results are in. It’s been such a pleasure to see not only how these teams handle the difficult tasks in front of them, but also how they grow over time. I was introduced to RobotX through Mike Resner and the Osaka Prefectural University team, which won this year’s Fearless Award. Check out the link for the other winners, including the trio of teams that won the Partnership & Collaboration award this year for going out of their way to aid teams that got stuck on something.