Build smarter. Dive deeper. NEPI gives student ROV teams the same edge AI and automation platform used in professional subsea robotics. Educational licensing is free, support is included, and hardware is provided.
Full NEPI platform access, free, for every team in the program. Educational licensing with support included, not a time-limited trial.
This program is open to registered MATE ROV Competition teams.
Numurus is an ongoing MATE ROV partner. The program puts NEPI, a plug-and-play edge AI and automation platform, into the hands of student ROV teams so they can add onboard AI and autonomy to the vehicles they are already building.
NEPI acts as the software layer between your ROV hardware, sensors, AI models, and control logic, bringing everything into a single, unified interface. Instead of building and maintaining complex software infrastructure from scratch, teams use NEPI to focus on robot behavior, strategy, and performance.
The fall 2026 pilot is the current cohort. It is one stage of a continuing relationship with MATE, not the whole of it.
The pros use this tech in real subsea robotics. Now you can too.
The fall 2026 pilot runs with one Anchor Team and four Builder Teams. Both tracks get the platform, the hardware, and the engineering support. They differ in depth of involvement.
The Anchor Team works most closely with the Numurus engineering team and carries a paid student lead internship. The student lead owns the team's NEPI project, works directly with Numurus engineers, and takes the internship title on their record.
Builder Teams run their own NEPI project on the same terms: free educational licensing, hardware provided, and engineer support. Builder Teams are recruited through MATE, so a team that wants in should start with the application below.
With NEPI, MATE ROV teams add edge AI, vision, and automation to their robot without designing a complex software architecture from scratch.
Deploy object detection and tracking models that run onboard the ROV during a mission, for spotting and identifying targets underwater rather than reviewing footage afterwards.
Stream and visualize cameras with overlays for alignment, targeting, and debugging, so pilots can see what the vehicle sees while they fly it.
Trigger actions from vision or sensor input, turning a detection into a response without writing a full autonomy stack.
Operate entirely onboard on platforms such as NVIDIA Jetson, which is what makes real-time processing possible on a tethered or untethered vehicle.
The offer is free, but it is not passive. Each team produces three short video deliverables over the course of the program, showing what they built and how it works. Those videos are the record of the project and the basis for team sponsorship on completion.
Beyond the deliverables, teams are asked to use the platform in earnest: connect real sensors, run real models, and report back what worked and what did not. That feedback shapes the next release, which is the honest trade for free licensing and engineer time.
Hardware is provided. [PLACEHOLDER: camera equipment spec] to be confirmed and listed here before the cohort opens.
Three steps from interest to a running NEPI system on your team's hardware.
Send your team name, school, and MATE ROV class. Places in the fall 2026 pilot are limited to one Anchor Team and four Builder Teams.
Apply to the programInstall NEPI on your team's hardware and walk a tutorial end to end, from connecting a camera to deploying an AI model.
Get NEPI Browse tutorialsAsk questions, share your build, and talk to other MATE ROV teams and to the engineers who maintain the platform.
Join Discord Community forum[PLACEHOLDER: confirmed program dates] Application window and cohort start dates for the fall 2026 pilot are being finalized with MATE and will be listed here.
What MATE ROV teams ask before they start building on NEPI.
Applications for the fall 2026 pilot are open. If you coach or mentor a registered MATE ROV team, start here, or ask a question in the community first.