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After qualifying for the VEX-U World Championship earlier this season, KUdos, 911������’s collegiate robotics team, continued its schedule with a January appearance at the Gear Slingers Open.

Hosted January 18 at California Polytechnic State University, the Gear Slingers Open served as the college-level tournament during a one-day robotics competition weekend and was part of the global VEX Robotics Competition leading to the VEX-U World Championship. The event brought together 16 collegiate teams from across the West Coast, including UC Santa Barbara, California Baptist University, and CSU Northridge.

KUdos was one of only three teams at the event competing from outside California, and the only team representing the Midwest.

“What really stood out was the quality of the event,” said Nathan Nguyen ’26, team captain, design and fabrication lead, and drive coach. “It was well organized, fun, and gave us the chance to talk with teams we don’t normally compete against.”

Steady Performance in a Competitive Field

At the Gear Slingers Open, KUdos recorded results across multiple areas of competition. The team ranked third overall in qualification matches with a 7-0-1 record, advanced to the semifinals in elimination play, and placed second in combined autonomous and driver skills.

Those results placed KUdos in the upper tier of teams across qualification matches, skills challenges, and elimination rounds at the 16-team event.

“We’ve spent most of our time competing in the Midwest, especially early on when nearly all of our events were in Michigan,” Nguyen said. “Last year, we started traveling to other Midwestern states, and this season, with more team members from the West Coast, we decided to take the opportunity to compete out here. Seeing how other teams operate, how they approach competition, and how different events are run was eye-opening, and we learned a lot from the experience.”

Recognition for Alignment, Not Just Results

KUdos was also awarded the Excellence Award, the highest-level honor presented at VEX-U events, recognizing overall excellence across both judged and performance-based categories. The award incorporates the Design Award criteria along with a team’s on-field performance.

Judges evaluate Excellence Award candidates based on the quality and completeness of their Engineering Notebook, the effectiveness of their team interview, and the alignment between documented design decisions, communication, and robot performance during competition.

Earlier this season, KUdos earned a Design Award for its engineering process and documentation. At the Gear Slingers Open, the team paired that approach with results in qualification matches, skills challenges, and elimination play, earning Excellence Award recognition.

Team members included:

• Nathan Nguyen ‘26, B-Section Team Captain, Lead Designer & Fabricator, 24" Drive Coach, Pit Crew
• Andrew Bolthouse ‘27, A-Section Team Captain, 15" Drive Coach, Technician
• Mactar Gueye ‘30, Programmer, Designer, 24” Driver
• Daniel Buddington ‘30, Pit Crew, 15” Driver

“Earning an Excellence Award for the second season in a row means a lot, especially this early in the season,” Nguyen said. “When we started KUdos in 2022, we had big goals, but we didn’t know how quickly we’d get there. Over the past four years, we’ve grown from building robots with very limited resources to developing a competitive team and establishing ourselves in the VEX-U community. Every year, our goal is to improve, even if it’s just a little, and earning this award shows how far we’ve come.”

Looking Ahead

The Gear Slingers Open marked KUdos’s second competition of the season as part of the collegiate schedule leading toward the VEX-U World Championship. With one competition remaining (January 31 at California Baptist University), the team continues its schedule ahead of the VEX-U World Championship.