The buzz of whirring motors and cheering students filled Antelope Gymnasium on Saturday as Grand Canyon University hosted Robots in the Canyon. The VEX V5 robotics competition drew 24 teams from across the state.
The all-day event, organized by the GCU Robotics Club, featured qualification matches in the morning and high-stakes elimination rounds in the afternoon. Teams brought anywhere from four to 11 students, packing the gym with middle school and high school competitors eager to test their engineering skills.
For Patrick Grates, the club’s faculty advisor and a robotics instructor in the College of Engineering and Technology, hosting an event of this size is a milestone for the university.
“It means that a lot of young adults and kids are interested in robotics, and it’s a growing field,” Grates said. “It’s going to help grow our program here in the College of Engineering and Technology.”
Grates, who teaches industrial robotics, including pick-and-place machines and six-degree-of-freedom robot arms, said the event not only highlights the field’s rapid growth but also the club’s momentum on campus.
“At club sign-ups this year, they doubled the size of the club,” he said. “We were really starved for funding, so we hoped this event would bring in support so they could modernize their robots and even look at some new competitions.”
The competition came together quickly. Once registration opened, the original 20 team slots filled almost immediately. Organizers increased capacity to 24, and those spots were claimed just as fast.
For Crystal Simeon, president of the GCU Robotics Club, the turnout reflects how far the club has come since she joined in 2022.
“I did competition robotics since the third grade,” Simeon said. “Back home, I worked for a nonprofit that taught robotics education, and I thought joining the GCU club would be a great opportunity to serve my community. It’s a fun community here at GCU.”
Juliana Campbell, a club member and senior, joined for a simpler reason.
“My friends,” she said with a laugh.
Both Campbell and Simeon graduate in the spring, and Campbell said they hope this event becomes part of the legacy they leave behind.
Simeon agreed, noting how much the club has evolved.
“The vibes when I joined freshman year were that we just sat in the room and built our robots,” she said. “I wanted us to serve our community and do other things, not just build robots for ourselves, but show kids what is possible for them. We wanted to be more out there and not sheltered away in our labs.”
Grates said the student leadership was crucial to making the event happen, despite limited resources.
“Crystal and Juliana were really indispensable in organizing this,” he said.
With the success of Robots in the Canyon, the club is looking ahead to new opportunities, including participating in RoboQuest, a Christian robotics organization.
For Campbell, watching the event come together was deeply meaningful.
“Honestly, it means a lot. We confirmed this event not even a full two months ago,” she said. “We prayed about it, and all the team slots got filled. We have so many volunteers. For me, this is a big step of faith.”
GCU News student writer Kaelyn Frenzel can be reached at [email protected].
***
Related content:
GCU News: From robots to routers, GenCyber Camp programming cyber’s next generation
GCU News: GCU research team aiming to teach autonomous cars how to ‘see’ clearly
