The teams, from Mintlaw Academy and Robert Gordon’s College, competed in the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Centre’s 2016 ROV international final in the United States, finishing in the top 20 teams.

They secured their places in the international final after taking the top spots in the Scottish final, which is co-ordinated and hosted by Robert Gordon University (RGU), with around 600 teams competing at various other regional competitions.

Out of the 39 teams from around the world taking part in the Ranger Class of the competition, the Robert Gordon’s College pupils finished in thirteenth place, while the Mintlaw team took the nineteenth spot.

This year’s contest focused on the similarities in technologies for use in the ocean and those used in outer space, with the pupils travelling to the NASA Johnson Space Centre’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL) in Houston to compete using ROVs they designed and built during the past school year.