Garrett Schnack split his weekend between running a robotics tournament at Chumash Auditorium and preparing his own team to compete. By the time the Gear Slingers’ matches began Sunday, he was doing both at once.
Gear Slingers captain Garrett Schnack, a fifth-year mechanical engineering student, led Cal Poly’s VEX U robotics team Jan. 18 in the college portion of the two-day event. The Gear Slingers finished as tournament and skills champions after dropping one qualification match and then winning every round of the playoffs.
The Gear Slingers design and build two robots each season to face universities from around the country and world. Founded in 2019 as a project in the Cal Poly Robotics Club, the team helped anchor a weekend co-hosted with the Society of Women Engineers and SLObotics, the San Luis Obispo High School robotics club.
“With both events combined, we were able to take the best parts of each and bring them together into one weekend,” said Schnack, who is in his final season with the team.
Pooling planning, volunteers and equipment streamlined the schedule. With one setup and one teardown, the focus stayed on the matches, not the logistics. The approach helped the weekend run smoothly and made the path from high school robotics to college competition easier to see.
For Maddie Howard, the collaboration feels like a natural extension of work she’s been doing since her early days at Cal Poly. A fourth-year mechanical engineering student with a concentration in mechatronics, Howard serves as SWE’s robotics outreach chair and has been involved with the organization since her freshman year.
“I did robotics in high school, so I was really excited that SWE had a robotics component,” Howard said. “I love the outreach side of it, but I also love the operations and planning.”
SWE has hosted its annual VEX Robotics competition since 2019, working closely with SLObotics to manage field elements and technical needs. This year, that experience expanded to include the college tournament, bringing both events under one coordinated weekend.
Inside Chumash Auditorium, everything unfolded in one room — from match announcements to pit activity — making it easier for teams, volunteers and spectators to stay connected. Large projection screens allowed matches to be viewed clearly from the seats, reducing crowding around the competition area.
Away from the matches, the high school tournament offered an early look at how engineers think and work under pressure. In the pit area, Howard watched teams troubleshoot between matches, moving quickly through repairs and adjustments before the next round.
“They’re learning things now that I’m learning in college,” she said. High school teams documented their work in engineering notebooks, a process that mirrors the kind of structured thinking students encounter later in their academic careers. “That kind of reflection is really valuable.”
That exposure often lasts. Several Gear Slingers members first got involved in competitive robotics in high school, drawn in by the same mix of design and teamwork that filled Chumash Auditorium over the weekend.
For the Gear Slingers, the event also marked an early test of the season itself, part of a campaign that ultimately leads to the VEX U World Championship.
This year’s game centered on controlling scoring elements while disrupting opponents’ progress. “You’re fighting over points,” Schnack said. “A big part of it is trying to descore and take control back.”
The team had entered the season earlier than ever. Their first competition, hosted by Mt. San Antonio College, came immediately after finals, forcing students to finish two competition-ready robots by early December. That early timeline shifted the team’s focus over winter break, from rushed builds to refinements and drive practice.
With no option to keep a full practice field set up on campus, the team improvised. Members tuned mechanical systems and autonomous routines first, then squeezed in drive practice wherever they could, assembling a field setup off campus in a team member’s garage so they could keep testing. It was the kind of behind-the-scenes work that makes a match look effortless.
That preparation showed up at the home tournament. A qualification loss to Team EZ ended the Gear Slingers’ regional match streak, but they answered in the playoffs, meeting EZ again in the final and winning the best-of-three in straight matches.
But the team’s finals run was only one piece of the weekend inside Chumash Auditorium. Across two days, the same room held two different stakes: High school teams competing for a shot at the state championship, and university teams chasing a direct path to the VEX U World Championship.
In that shared space, the next step felt less abstract. Students could see the arc in real time, from first-season fixes in the pit area to the pace and precision of college play, and understand what it takes to keep moving forward.
Follow the clubs on Instagram: Cal Poly Gear Slingers (@gearslingerscpslo) and Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers (@calpolyswe)
By Emily Slater
