Company Evaluation

Skillset 1: Teamwork & Collaboration

The Growth Opportunity: Last season, we struggled with a siloed workflow between our mechanical, electrical, and business sub-teams. Because we lacked synchronized communication, we experienced highly unbalanced workloads—one department would finish their tasks entirely while others were still bottlenecked, leaving members with nothing to do. We entered this year intending to completely overhaul this system.

How it Led to Company Growth: Ultimately, we learned that changing ingrained company habits is harder than simply declaring a new policy. While we did not fully implement the structured cross-team check-ins we initially hoped for, our growth this year came in the form of awareness. Sub-teams made a much more conscious effort to understand where the other departments were in their timelines, rather than working completely in the dark. This challenge taught us that effective teamwork doesn't happen overnight; it requires ongoing, active effort. Recognizing this gap has given our future team leadership a clear, realistic priority for next season.

Skillset 2: Creativity

The Growth Opportunity: For the past four years, our company fell into a restrictive pattern of "design by inheritance." We continuously kept critical electronics—like our Arduino and ESCs—on land in a surface control box simply because it was what previous teams had always done. We lacked the creativity to challenge this status quo, which ultimately limited our ROV's potential, overcomplicated our tether, and stalled our own educational growth as engineers.

How it Led to Company Growth: This season, we completely overhauled our design philosophy by implementing a strict "why" requirement. Every design choice had to be justified with a solid engineering rationale. When we couldn't logically defend keeping our electronics on land, we challenged ourselves to creatively engineer a better solution—such as finally migrating our Arduino and ESCs directly onboard the ROV into custom waterproof enclosures. Breaking our four-year cycle of complacency forced us to think outside the box. It cultivated a highly creative environment where we finally understood the why behind our system architecture, rather than just copying the what from previous seasons.

Skillset 3: Obstacles

The Growth Opportunity: At the beginning of the season, our company intended to laser-cut the frame for Waldo XVII. However, we faced unexpected difficulties trying to accurately 3D model the complex geometry required for the laser cutter, followed by technical issues during the actual cutting process. As a result, we found ourselves without a physical frame until January, which put our entire testing and build schedule at risk.

How it Led to Company Growth: This significant obstacle forced us to critically evaluate our plan and pivot our manufacturing strategy. Instead of allowing the delay to halt our progress, our team adapted by exploring alternative fabrication methods, which ultimately led to the successful construction of our durable aluminum frame. This experience profoundly developed our adaptability and problem-solving skills. We learned first-hand that engineering rarely goes exactly according to the initial plan, and that true innovation requires flexibility, resilience, and the willingness to pursue a "Plan B" when the original design fails.