SDSU Robotics team heading to World Championships

BROOKINGS, S.D (KELO) — The Vex U robotics team in the College of Engineering at SDSU is making big moves.

The team is heading to a worldwide competition at the end of April.

The VexU Robotics team has been grinding gears since last September.

Freshman Ian Brueggeman is the captain of the Jacks…

You may recognize him as a former member of the Vex robotics team ‘Capten’ from Harrisburg. He decided to form his own team at SDSU.

“I gathered up all the people that had done Vex in high school, and a few other people. And we started the team here,” Brueggeman.

The team has been working since January to build and perfect two catapulting robots, Bluey and Wiz Kalifa.

“They took it really serious and they really showed the commitment and their time and their excitement and yeah, I’m just really proud of them all,” said Hailey Gruber, President of the Robotics Club.

Over the last four months, the Jacks have competed in nationwide competitions, bringing home six trophies.

“I feel pretty accomplished for getting this team off the ground. There’s a lot of teams that have struggled with that. So I’m proud of that. I got a room, I got the parts. We built robots we’re actually doing well,” Brueggeman said.

Now, the team is heading to the World Championships in Dallas.

“There’s about 100 different teams from around the world. So in our division, we’ll be going against some teams in from New Zealand, from China, and things like that. So it’s exciting,” Gruber said.

Brueggeman says they hope to bring home a world championship title and says the team plans to continue this hot streak for the next four years.

The Jacks will head down to Dallas from April 26th through May 1st.