World underwater robotics competition beckons

Maike van der Heide

For budding Blenheim engineer Tāna Barron, qualifying for an invitation-only robotics and engineering competition in America has been a dream years in the making.

Tāna, 14, came within a few points of qualifying at the national Aquabots competition in 2023.

History repeated itself late last year when, after coming first place in the regional competition, Tāna’s Marlborough Boys’ College ‘Team Orca’ again placed an agonizingly-close second in the national round.

But then the phone call came: Team Orca had qualified after all. On 31 May and 1 June, Tāna and his Year 10 teammates Sam Molony and Luke Bourgeois will be competing at the invitation-only SeaPerch international competition in Washington DC.

Now, Team Orca are working hard to modify their self-built remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to compete in timed challenges against the best in the world. They also need to provide a detailed technical report about their ROV for the judges.

Tāna thinks the most challenging part will be the obstacle course. “This is the famous task that is in every Aquabot event. It is time-trialed and requires skill to drive the ROV through the hoops and back.”

Tāna hopes the SeaPerch experience will “lead to new career opportunities and increase my understanding of physics concepts such as buoyancy and hydrodynamics”.

Marlborough Boys’ College Aquabots teacher Katharine Davis says Tāna and Team Orca “worked incredibly hard to gain entry to the 2025 SeaPerch International challenge in America topping the Marlborough qualifier and performing well in Auckland”.

“The International Challenge will be a whole new level of competition on new courses against teams who have been competing for more years. The whole college are behind the team and we are sure they will represent Marlborough proudly.”

Last year, another Marlborough team, the BumbleBots, came second at the world event. In 2015, Marlborough Boys’ College team Gadget Magic also qualified for the international competition but did not attend, says Katharine.

Team Orca needs to raise about $40,000 to travel and compete.

The boys are selling pinecones, will have raffles, and are holding a quiz night at the Woodbourne Tavern on Friday, 2 May. To enter a team, email [email protected] or go to the MBC NZAquabots Teams Facebook page for details. Team Orca also have a Givealittle page.