PIONEER

Participation in the PIONEER class is open to students in technical and community colleges as well as four-year universities competing for the first time. Note that “first time” is defined as students, instructors/mentors, and institutions who have not participated previously.
The intention of the PIONEER class is to encourage, support, and sustain technical and community college and university teams participation in the MATE ROV Competition. To that end, the MATE ROV Competition will consider permitting first-time teams to compete in PIONEER a second year before advancing to the EXPLORER class. Teams interested in competing for a second year in the PIONEER class must contact the MATE ROV Competition by December 31, the previous competition year.
Teams of mixed college/university and high school students are allowed to participate in the PIONEER class provided that the high school students:
- Are enrolled in classes at the college or university
- Do not make up more than 25% of the team
- No students or instructors/mentors have participated in the MATE ROV Competition previously.

Number of Teams

The following are links to all of the information needed regarding mission tasks and specs.

2025 Scoring Guide

Company Spec Sheet
2025 Corporate Responsibility Score Sheet
Product Demonstration
Technical Documentation
- Technical Documentation Supplemental Information
Marketing Display
Engineering Presentation
- Scoring Rubric for Technical Documentation and Engineering Presentation
Initial Safety Inspection sheet
On-Site Safety Inspection sheet
LASER Safety Inspection sheet
NRD (Non-ROV Device) Inspection sheet
2025 Safety Tutorial
- 2025 SAFETY BRIEFING.mp4 on Vimeo

Compete in the PIONEER class.