Most engineering programs ask students to learn by reading and listening. Team Minion asks something different: come build a robot that has to work in the ocean, in front of judges, against a dozen other university teams. If that sounds like the kind of pressure you want to learn under, read on.
Who We’re Looking For
Team Minion is an interdisciplinary student engineering team at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. We build and compete with autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) in the Maritime RobotX Challenge — a competition co-organized by AUVSI and the Office of Naval Research.
We recruit students from across ERAU’s colleges. Great work on this team has come from aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, software engineering, and even systems engineering and physics. If you know how to learn fast, work collaboratively, and ship things that actually work — we want to talk.
What we don’t require: Prior robotics experience. Prior competition experience. Prior autonomous systems experience. These are things we teach. What we do require is curiosity, commitment, and the ability to own your work.
Open Roles Each Season
Software – Perception and Computer Vision
Perception engineers build the systems that give Minion its eyes: camera processing pipelines, object detection, stereo depth estimation, and sensor fusion. You’ll work in Python and C++ within a ROS (Robot Operating System) framework. Familiarity with OpenCV or any neural network framework is helpful but not required.
Perception is where competition is won or lost — a vessel that can’t reliably see buoys, obstacles, and task markers can’t score. This team carries high responsibility and gets a lot of satisfaction from watching their code run on moving hardware in open water.
Software – Planning and Control
Control engineers own the part of the system that decides where to go and commands the thrusters to get there. Path planning, obstacle avoidance, and station-keeping algorithms live here. Coursework in control theory, linear algebra, or robotics is advantageous. The ability to think rigorously about stability and failure modes is essential.
Software – Systems and Architecture
Systems engineers own the glue: ROS node graph design, inter-process communication, system startup sequences, logging, and the behavior tree executive that coordinates autonomous task execution. This role requires broad software competence and attention to detail. If you find elegance in well-organized architecture, this is your home.
Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineers design and maintain Minion’s power distribution, sensor wiring harnesses, and embedded electronics. Competition hardware must survive salt water, vibration, and the occasional unexpected wave — ruggedization is a real discipline. Coursework in circuits, embedded systems, or power electronics is directly applicable.
Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical engineers own the physical platform: sensor mounting structures, hull modifications, watertight enclosures, and payload pod hardware. All design work is done in CAD before fabrication, and most fabrication happens in ERAU’s engineering shops. Machining experience is a bonus; CAD proficiency (SolidWorks, Fusion 360, or similar) is expected.
Project Management and Documentation
Not everyone on a competition team needs to write code or machine parts. Project managers coordinate schedules, track deliverables, manage the team’s competition registration and logistics, and make sure critical information doesn’t get lost between semesters. Strong communicators with organizational talent make the technical teams faster.
What Membership Looks Like
Team Minion operates year-round, with intensity peaking in the months before competition. Here’s what a typical semester looks like for an active member:
- Weekly team meetings — Full team and subteam meetings for status, planning, and technical discussion
- Lab hours — Regular work sessions in the lab, typically 5–10 hours per week during active development periods
- On-water testing — Periodic test days at ERAU’s waterfront access, usually monthly
- Competition travel — Selected members travel to the competition venue (past venues include Singapore and Hawaii) for the event week
You’ll also have opportunities to attend conferences, co-author technical papers, and contribute to the team’s public presence. Several former Team Minion members have listed competition experience as the primary factor in landing their first engineering role after graduation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to be an upperclassman? No. We have had first-semester freshmen join and contribute meaningfully. Some of our strongest contributors started in their first year at ERAU. Early entry means more time to develop expertise before you graduate.
Can I join mid-semester? We prefer the start of each semester for onboarding, but we evaluate mid-semester applications on a case-by-case basis depending on team capacity.
Is there a GPA requirement? There is no formal GPA cutoff. We do expect members to maintain academic standing — a student on academic probation cannot give the team the time and energy the work requires. If you’re struggling academically, talk to your advisor before committing to an extracurricular program this demanding.
What does “autonomous” actually mean for these vehicles? It means that once the vessel leaves the dock, no human controls it. The vessel must perceive its environment, plan its actions, and execute maneuvers entirely from onboard computation. There is a remote kill-switch for safety, but it only stops the thrusters — it doesn’t steer. This is a genuinely hard technical problem, and solving it is the point.
How do I find out more before applying? Read through the about Team Minion page for a deeper look at our history, culture, and what it means to be part of this program.
How to Apply
Applications are accepted at the start of each academic year and at the beginning of the spring semester. The process:
- Submit your interest form — Available through the ERAU student organizations portal. Tell us your major, year, and which subteam interests you. Include anything that demonstrates relevant experience: a class project, a personal project, GitHub link, whatever shows us how you work.
- Brief interview — 20–30 minutes with one or two subteam leads. We’re not looking for polish — we’re listening for how you think about problems.
- Onboarding project — New members complete a small scoped project relevant to their subteam. This isn’t a test to pass or fail; it’s how we calibrate what support you need to contribute.
Team Minion has sent students to Singapore and Hawaii, published peer-reviewed research, and sent graduates into careers at aerospace and defense firms, maritime technology companies, and graduate programs at leading research universities. The best time to be part of it is now.