Taking the Lead on Robotics
At Valpo, our College of Engineering is always taking the lead in academics, student involvement and consistently high placement rates after graduation. Our programs are designed for success because they keep students engaged, provide real-world career skills, and allow students to pursue their passions and gain hands-on experience, while doing something they truly enjoy.
The Valpo Robotics team is bringing together engineering knowledge and a competitive edge to one of campus’s largest student groups. As for success, the robotic football team is currently the reigning, two-time champions of the Collegiate Robotic Football Conference, having successfully held onto their title at the 2023 Collegiate Robotic Football Conference Championship at Ohio Northern University.
“Our journey to becoming champions was rigorous,” mechanical engineering major co-president and head coach of the team, Kristina Labović ’23 says. “We were just recovering from COVID-19 and we were worried that we didn’t have enough people to compete and at the time, we did not have a full drive team. The build team was struggling on keeping up with robots and I did not know what to do. I was the drive coach and somehow, I found eight people and had half of a full team, but enough to compete. We practiced a lot before the competition and learned everything together and showed up more ready than ever. We had all developed an even stronger bond as a team because we were running thin. We pulled through and showed the nation who we really are as Valpo Robotics, as we worked together and won.”
The robotics team are no strangers to success against larger universities — as they beat the University of Notre Dame on their home turf, to win the conference championship.
“The purpose of the robotics team is twofold: to develop the engineering skills of university students and to inspire younger students to pursue engineering,” says bioengineering major Lauren Kadlec ’24. “We accomplish this by making engineering fun (or more fun than it already is) through robotics competitions.”
Lauren learned about the robotics team during her first Valpo tour, and from that moment on she was convinced that she found her place at Valpo. She reached out to the team and joined as a freshman before fall semester classes had even begun. The Valpo Robotics team is an organization that allows students to take the concepts they learn in class and put them into practice by designing, building, operating and eventually competing in robotic football games and other collegiate robotic design games with fully functional robots that they make entirely on their own. As of now, the robotics team has 20 robots, with 11 designated for competitions. Sami Khorbotly, professor of electrical and computer engineering and supervisor of the robotics team, says that the team is not only a place for students to build community and exercise their engineering skills, it’s also a place for students to possibly find their future vocation through the work that they take part in.
“I saw the impact that it had on the students and on the campus community,” Professor Khorbotly says. “What they do on this team allows them to reinforce what they learn in class, as well as learning soft skills like leadership, communication, working as a team. And it helps with retention. Students who become involved with robotics are given a purpose, they are part of a team and they want that team to succeed.”
Students on the robotics team can choose to take part in the robotic football team or the Vex U team. The two teams compete in different events. The football team competes in the intercollegiate robotic football league where they play football against other robotic teams. The Vex team competes in Vex U, an annual collegiate competition with over 300 teams.
Each year, students are given a new game and they have to design and build their robots to compete under certain rules.
The Valpo Robotics Team put up a good showing in the 2023 VEXU event, winning five of their nine games and ranking 23rd out of 48 in their division. Regardless of which team they choose to take part in or what victories they achieve, the experience of working together and learning as a team is mutually inclusive for everyone on the team.
“My favorite moment is when I see the students having a good time and enjoying themselves,” professor Khorbotly says. “They are so involved with it, and just seeing how much it means to them is incredible to me. I enjoy winning of course, but it’s more about what these students take away from their time on the team.”
Depending on the competition that the robotic football team attends, the setup of the actual competition will vary. A typical competition event starts early in the morning and allows time for testing of the robots before the actual game.
“During the competitions, there is a lot of moving around, and it is important that every member knows where they need to go,” Kristina says. “My Co-President Lauren Kadlec and I help where we can during the competition, while also completing our roles. We will have a series of games that we play through a bracket to the championship game and there is also a combine event that takes place before the games begin.”
The Valpo student experience is defined by all of the opportunities that are available here at Valpo and the robotics team is no exception. Being a part of something bigger than yourself is the first step to becoming a well-rounded servant leader and in the case of the robotics team, pursuing your passions can lead to hard earned success, and lasting bonds.
“College is about more than academics. It is about building community. In robotics, students with the same passions come together to make something amazing,” Lauren says.
