Added spacing to paragraphs in posts to be less cluttered

Author: steph1111

_posts/2024-06-23-cabrillo-robotics-wins-international-robotics-competition.md

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 The Cabrillo Robotics Club achieved an impressive victory, taking home First Place in the most advanced category of the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) World Championship. Held in Kingsport, TN from June 20-22 2024, the competition gathered 82 teams from 17 countries to showcase advancements in underwater robotics.
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 The MATE competition challenges teams worldwide to build Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs). These tethered, submersible robots perform observation, inspection, and physical tasks in various aquatic environments. Competing teams must build an ROV capable of executing simulated industry applications in a product demonstration. They also showcase their robot's functionality and design rationale through marketing, technical documentation, and an engineering presentation.
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 Cabrillo Robotics has competed in the MATE Pioneer Division and achieved first place at the World Championship the last two consecutive years. This year, the club built a completely redesigned ROV to tackle the challenges in the most advanced class of the competition–Explorer.
 The small team dedicated nearly a year to constructing an originally designed ROV, the SeaHawk II. Members developed fully custom software and hardware solutions resulting in a reliable vehicle capable of rapidly completing competition mission tasks. SeaHawk II stands as a testament to the mechanical, electrical, and software engineering skills of the team, with members from each specialty collaborating seamlessly to produce a professional-grade final product. Isaac Wax, Hardware Lead, commented “We believe in doing things the right way, not the easy way. Rather than settle for good enough, low-risk solutions, we executed innovative, high-risk designs across mechanical, electrical and software systems using cross-integration techniques yielding a streamlined, high-performance ROV. I believe that our team’s perseverance sticking to these values paid off to make Seahawk II a World Champion.” Cabrillo Robotics plans on making all components of the robot open source on [GitHub](https://github.com/CabrilloRoboticsClub).
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 After more than 4500 hours of intensive design, manufacturing, and testing, five members of the Cabrillo Robotics team and their robot traveled 4080 km across the country to Kingsport, TN. They engaged in several days of rigorous events. Thanks to many hours of practice and exceptional piloting, they achieved impressive scores in the product demonstrations. Pilot, Isaac Eda, noted that, “a strength of this year’s ROV was its unique control systems that made it possible for me to navigate the tasks in record time.” Much thought and effort was put into maximizing the controllability of the robot. Both the hardware and software teams worked together to ensure piloting the ROV was as efficient and reliable as possible. During their presentation, judges noted the craftsmanship of the robot and were intrigued by the unique mechanical design choices. Additionally, the custom electronics stack and pilot dashboard received high praise for their ingenuity and impressive design. 
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 After the events concluded, Cabrillo Robotics Club celebrated another remarkable victory, securing first place overall in the most advanced category of the competition. This triumph is particularly impressive given the team's unique challenges and achievements. Competing for the first time in the Explorer Division with a completely redesigned ROV, this small team of community college students outperformed university teams from around the world.
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 Participation in the MATE ROV competition over the years has provided learning and training that have shaped Cabrillo Robotic Team members into engineers soon to enter the workforce and move onto higher education. “Participating in MATE competitions provided us with the unique opportunity to develop invaluable technical and interpersonal skills” says President Stephanie L’Heureux, “We all hope to continue to be involved with MATE as mentors to future generations of students to share this valuable learning experience.”
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 After winning first place in their division of the MATE competition for three consecutive years, the Cabrillo Robotics Club is excited to conquer a new challenge for the 2024-2025 season. “The Cabrillo Robotics Club values the MATE ROV competition for its chance to explore our limits, take risks, and devise unconventional solutions to problems,” says Rowan Garites. “...however, we are ready to venture into new territory, the RoboSub competition appears to be a logical next step for us. It will definitely be challenging, our software, mechanical, and electrical teams will have their work cut out for them. Constructing an autonomous vehicle without a tether makes the engineering process exponentially more difficult,” adds Stephanie L’Heureux. RoboSub challenges teams worldwide to design and build Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). Cabrillo Robotics Club is eager to participate in next year’s RoboSub competition and is actively seeking donations and sponsors for support.

_posts/2024-09-8-after-international-win-cabrillo-robotics-announces-participation-in-robosub.md

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 Cabrillo College’s Robotics Club recently announced their participation in the upcoming RoboSub competition, following their victory at the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) World Championship. Last month, the team secured First Place in the most advanced category of the MATE competition, outperforming 29 teams from 9 countries. MATE tasks teams worldwide to design and construct a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), a tethered underwater robot, capable of performing simulated industry tasks. After three consecutive years of participation in the MATE competition, and three first place victories in their respective division, Cabrillo Robotics is ready to embark on a new challenge.
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 “We are incredibly grateful for our time participating in the MATE competition,” said Stephanie L’Heureux, Cabrillo Robotics President. “The experience has been invaluable, providing us with numerous technical and interpersonal skills we will carry forward into our careers as engineers. Over the years, we’ve learned to tackle complex engineering challenges by devising unique and innovative solutions, and work cohesively as a team. Moreover, our participation in MATE has inspired us to push our limits and continuously seek new challenges and learning opportunities–-which is why we have decided to take on a new challenge this year. MATE has provided us with a solid foundation for underwater robotics, and with that knowledge RoboSub competition appears to be a logical next step for us.”
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 [what is robosub]
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 Cabrillo Robotics' upcoming participation in RoboSub marks a significant step forward, as the team will now focus on developing Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). Unlike ROVs, these AUVs operate independently, navigating the underwater environment without human intervention. The transition to building an AUV presents unique hardware and software challenges. [add more at challenges]
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 [talk funding]
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 Cabrillo Robotics Club is eager to participate in next year’s RoboSub competition and is actively seeking donations and sponsors for support. To support Cabrillo Robotics Club or donate to their RoboSub entry, visit the Cabrillo Foundation website. When making a donation, enter “Robotics” in the special instructions or notes section.