Our History
UNT Robotics was revived in 2018 — but robotics and engineering culture at North Texas runs much deeper. Here’s the story we’ve been able to piece together.
Origins
Robotics and engineering have a long history at the University of North Texas. Student teams and clubs have come and gone on campus for decades — reportedly as far back as the 1970s — through the university’s earlier eras as North Texas State University and the growth of its computing and engineering programs.
By the mid-2010s the organization had gone quiet. In 2018 it was revived by Sebastian King and Nick Tindle as a fresh iteration of UNT Robotics — picking up a torch that had been carried before them, including by earlier leaders such as Charles Bido.
The modern era
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2019
A new chapter: “UNT Robotics & Aerospace”
The club’s modern era begins. Its Discord — still the organizational backbone today — was created in October 2019, growing out of a student rocketry effort that joined forces with UNT’s existing robotics group. Members designed the first logo and set their sights on big goals: NASA Student Launch and intercollegiate rocketry. That same year, the competition team took first place at IEEE Region 5 with an autonomous balloon-popping drone.
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2020
Divisions, and a pivot to virtual
A roles-and-divisions system launched so members could self-select the project teams they wanted — rocketry, robotics, and more. When COVID-19 closed campus, the club kept building online through Zoom and Discord, running CAD and OpenRocket workshops and fielding a VEX U competition team.
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2021
The biggest growth surge on record
As campus reopened, membership exploded — 153 new members in a single month (September 2021), the largest recruiting spike in the club’s history. Officers tabled at Discovery Park, ran the first full slate of officer elections, and moved general meetings back in person.
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2022
Botathon becomes the flagship — and the Rover begins
Botathon, the club’s free, all-majors robot competition, grew into its signature annual event at Discovery Park. The club built the automated dues and “Good Standing” system on untrobotics.com, kicked off the NASA JPL Open-Source Rover project, and showed off an Arduino wind-turbine build at HackUNT.
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2023
Workshops mature
The 4th annual Botathon ran a Mario-Kart-themed robot race, and club projects were featured at Senior Design Day. Members ran a deep slate of workshops — KiCad PCB design with a professional guest, GPS/radio programming, NLP in Python, and drones & deep learning.
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2024
Sofabot, Scrapp-E, and RoboMasters
The club voted to enter RoboMasters, the international collegiate robotics competition. Weekend build sessions brought the rideable self-driving Sofabot to life, and a brand-new flagship robot — Scrapp-E, the club mascot — began taking shape. Guest speakers included NASA figures and Dr. Amir Jafari of UNT’s Advanced Robotics Manipulators Lab.
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2025
The Rover goes ROS 2
The JPL Rover was re-platformed onto a Raspberry Pi 4 running ROS 2 with RoboClaw motor controllers, with weekly Friday build days. Scrapp-E work continued, and the club began an ongoing collaboration with Engineers United at Discovery Park.
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2026
Still building
The club tabled at Spring Fling, ran a semester of structured intro projects — an Arduino piano, a 3D-printed robotic arm and quadruped — and began prep for the next Botathon. Seven seasons of Botathon in, and the workshop lights are still on.
People who shaped the club
UNT Robotics runs on its members and an elected officer team, supported over the years by faculty advisors and mentors — including Jack and Suzie Sprague, Dr. Keathly, Dr. Wasikowski, and Dr. Hassan — and guest speakers such as NASA engineer George Salazar, Dr. Amir Jafari of UNT’s Advanced Robotics Manipulators Lab, and roboticist Terrence Southern.