RUSSELLVILLE — Arkansas Tech University finished sixth in the robotics skills competition and advanced to the elimination bracket at the 2025 VEX U World Championship.
The competition was held May 9-11 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, according to a press release from the university.
“I would have to say that this has been our best year yet,” said Hunter Mathis of Hope, president of the ATU robotics club. “For the first time, people were asking to take photos of our robots and were genuinely impressed with how good they looked this year. I think having that interaction with others made this year’s competition my favorite one so far.”
Mathis was joined in the 2024-25 ATU robotics club by Brady Bray of Greenwood, Preston Diehl of Conway, Jason “Collin” Easterling of Hope, Brandon Gallegos of Hope, Bo Allen Huey of Conway, Raul Hurtado of Conway, Kavin Kannangara of Bentonville, Juan Leon of Hope, Judit Morales-Mora of Russellville, Ryan Nanthalangsy of Sheridan, Everett Otis of Conway, Brody Peterson of Bentonville, Braden Pierce of Bryant and Cooper Stober of Bentonville.
The ATU robotics club qualified for the world championship for a third consecutive year by earning the tournament champion and innovate awards at the 2025 Texas VEX U Tournament in February, the release states.
“That is what drove us this year to perform as best as we could at the world competition,” said Mathis. “We didn’t fall short of anything this year. We gave it all we had, and that is all you can ever do. We were simply out-played. Seeing how well our freshman members helped this year is very promising because that means after some of the others and I graduate, the team will continue to represent ATU to the best of its ability.”
Jacob Weidenfeller, instructor of electrical engineering and lab director, is sponsor for the ATU robotics club. Steve Ward serves as the club’s co-sponsor.
Membership in the ATU robotics club is open to all students regardless of major.
Current or prospective Arkansas Tech students seeking more information about the ATU robotics club may send e-mail to jweidenfeller@atu.edu.
