Deep in concentration, teams of students gathered at the edge of a swimming pool near Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) in Georgia, remote controls in hand. They carefully guided their homemade underwater robots — more scientifically known as remotely operated vehicles or ROVs — through a series of exercises simulating the tasks that the robots’ real-world counterparts might complete as part of a NOAA mission. Each team hoped that their ROV might be the one that judges would name the 2018 competition winner.