Transition to Collegiate-Level Competition
Upon graduating from high school and enrolling at California Polytechnic State University, I chose to continue my robotics involvement by joining the closest collegiate equivalent to my previous FRC experience. This led me to the Cal Poly Robotics Club VEXU team, known as the Gear Slingers, where I have maintained active participation throughout my academic tenure. The transition from high school to university-level robotics represented a significant advancement in both technical complexity and self-driven responsibility. Unlike the structured mentorship environment of high school programs, collegiate robotics demanded greater independence in project planning, technical decision-making, and team leadership.
Progressive Leadership Responsibilities
My involvement with the Gear Slingers has included multiple leadership positions across different functional areas of the organization. I have served as the team’s room and safety officer for the past two years, a role that encompasses facility management, equipment maintenance, and ensuring compliance with safety protocols during all team operations. Prior to my current position, I held sequential roles as manufacturing lead and software lead, experiences that provided comprehensive exposure to different aspects of robot development and team coordination. These progressive responsibilities have allowed me to develop expertise across multiple technical domains while building essential project management and leadership capabilities.
Technical Autonomy and Software Development
The VEXU platform has afforded unprecedented opportunities for meaningful programming and systems development work. Unlike more constrained competitive formats, our team operates with substantial autonomy regarding sensor selection, microprocessor implementation, and computational architecture development. This freedom has enabled the pursuit of innovative technical solutions and the implementation of sophisticated algorithms tailored to specific competitive challenges. The programming responsibilities within this environment extend beyond basic robot control to encompass sensor fusion, autonomous navigation systems, and real-time decision-making algorithms. This level of technical complexity has provided invaluable experience in embedded systems programming and has significantly advanced my capabilities in software architecture and system optimization.
Organizational Leadership and Club Governance
Beyond team-specific responsibilities, I serve as a general officer on the broader advisory committee that oversees the Cal Poly Robotics Club’s comprehensive operations. This governance structure manages six distinct subprojects, with VEXU representing one component of the club’s diverse portfolio of competitive and research initiatives. This organizational involvement has provided exposure to strategic planning, resource allocation, and cross-functional coordination at the club level. The entirely student-run nature of the organization demands sophisticated project management approaches and has cultivated experience in stakeholder management and organizational leadership that extends well beyond technical robotics applications.
Competitive Excellence and Future Objectives
The Gear Slingers have demonstrated exceptional competitive performance over the past two years, achieving regional dominance and advancing to World Championship competition consistently. Our team’s success culminated in winning the Gear Slingers Regional Event hosted at Cal Poly in Spring 2024, an achievement that validated our technical approach and team coordination efforts. Building on this foundation of competitive success, our current objective centers on achieving victory at the World Championship level. This ambitious goal reflects both our confidence in our technical capabilities and our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of preparation and execution. The pursuit of this championship represents the culmination of years of iterative improvement and technical refinement across all aspects of our robotics program.