Cal Poly Gear Slingers powered through a 42-1 season this year, building on last year’s historic finals appearance, sweeping qualifiers and winning their round-of-16 knockout match to reach the VEX U World Championship quarterfinals before falling to Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
In early May, Dallas hosted the VEX U World Championship, the collegiate division of the VEX Robotics Competition that draws roughly 300 university squads worldwide and invites the top 100 to compete. This season’s High Stakes game matched teams head to head, with each side fielding two robots to stack rings on goals and mount them on stakes, while bonus and penalty zones added strategic drama.
Before heading to Texas, the Gear Slingers had already proven dominant at home: a perfect 32-0 record across three regionals — Feb. 1 at Cal State Northridge; Feb. 15 at Mt. San Antonio College; and March 1 at Cal Poly. Their two robots, Patrick (green) and SpongeBob (gold), scored reliably in both the autonomous and driver-controlled periods.
“We proved last year wasn’t a fluke,” said project lead Garrett Schnack, a mechanical engineering senior. “With that success came pressure and the pros and cons of expectations, since we set the bar so high at our first competition.”
Programming lead Isaac Pruett, a freshman computer science major, called their opening scrimmage against Ohio State humbling after the Bucks handed the Gear Slingers back-to-back practice losses — an early wake-up call that forced the team to recalibrate and enter the competition fully aware of the level they’d be up against.
Pruett, who came from a high school program that seldom reached regionals, adapted quickly to the Gear Slingers’ custom electronics and simultaneous-command coding. “I had big shoes to fill,” he said. “Learning to lead and program at this level was surreal.”
At Worlds qualifiers, the Gear Slingers swept every match — dispatching teams from Puerto Rico, Colorado School of Mines, South Florida, Auburn, South Carolina, Tennessee Tech and a second Puerto Rico entry — to secure the division’s top seed.
In the round of 16, they outmaneuvered Rochester Institute of Technology in a division‑final rematch from last year to advance to the quarterfinals. There, Shanghai Jiao Tong University grabbed an early autonomous lead that High Stakes teams rarely recover from, and Cal Poly fell 27–42.
Despite the loss, Schnack and his teammates celebrated the milestone. “We finished in the top 16 out of 300 teams worldwide. That’s huge.”
Faculty adviser John Seng accompanied nine students to Dallas, where the Gear Slingers arrived early each morning for robot inspections, tuned sensors between matches and scrimmaged random opponents to sharpen strategy. Trip expenses and equipment upgrades were covered by Cal Poly’s College of Engineering and ME discretionary funds, while Polymaker supplied 3D-printing materials.
After receiving next season’s Push Back challenge at Worlds, the Gear Slingers spent the trip home debating strategies for scoring blocks, controlling goal zones and parking in defined areas. When they reconvene in the fall, they’ll bring the drive and experience of a team that’s already proven it belongs on the world stage.
Join them Jan. 18 at Cal Poly for the California season opener, see the robots in action on YouTube, follow the Gear Slingers on Instagram and visit their official website for updates and behind‑the‑scenes coverage.
By Emily Slater
