What We Do
UNT Robotics is a “design, build, test, and fly” organization. Here’s some of what our members build — and the competitions we take it to.
What We Build
From a self-driving sofa to an autonomous rover, here’s what our members make — across every discipline and skill level.
Scrapp-E
Scrapp-E is our mascot brought to life: a tracked companion robot with an animatronic head, mechanical iris eyes, and modular gripper arms. Chosen by a club-wide vote, the team has built a 3D-printed gearbox, a working animatronic hand driven by an Arduino and servos, and an aluminum drive frame. It’s equal parts mechanical, electrical, and software — a project anyone can plug into.
Sofabot
Exactly what it sounds like: a fully rideable, self-driving electric sofa. Two batteries, a geared drivetrain, and a Raspberry Pi with a high-torque steering servo push it to around 12 mph. Built over years in members’ garages, Sofabot is the club’s favorite “because we can” project — and yes, there’s video of its very first drive.
JPL Open-Source Rover
A six-wheel rocker-bogie rover built from NASA JPL’s open-source design, running ROS 2 on a Raspberry Pi with RoboClaw motor controllers. Members split into chassis, computer-vision, sensors, and movement teams to bring it together — and even visited the real rover at JPL. It’s our hands-on introduction to real robotics software and systems integration.
3D Printing Lab
A growing fleet of printers — Creality Ender 3, Bambu A1, the large-format Modix Big 120X, and a Stratasys uPrint — backs every other project: robot gearboxes, custom brackets, rocket parts, and more. Members dial in their own machines too, and we run workshops on CAD and printing — plus a filament-recycling effort to keep it sustainable.
Recreational Builds
Not every project is a competition. Our rec builds are for anyone who just wants to make something cool with a team — a from-scratch Arduino claw machine, a refurbished arcade-vending machine (“Vendarcading”), and whatever the membership dreams up next. Pitch an idea, rally a team, and we’ll help you build it.
Competitions
We put our skills to the test against schools across the country — and host our own.
High-Power Rocketry
Our Aerospace Division designs, builds, and flies high-power rockets from the ground up — custom fiberglass airframes, hand-sewn parachutes, 3D-printed fin cans, and full paint jobs. We competed in NASA Student Launch for two seasons, culminating in a launch at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Members earn their Level 1 and Level 2 certifications and fly regularly with the North Texas rocketry community.
IEEE Region 5
Our competition team represents UNT at the IEEE Region 5 student competitions — including a first-place autonomous drone that identified and popped balloons by color using computer vision, beating out eleven other universities. The team continues to build for IEEE’s autonomous robotics challenges, putting our controls, vision, and mechanical work to the test against schools across the region.
Botathon
Our flagship annual event: an approachable, cross-disciplinary robot-combat competition open to every major and skill level. Teams build Arduino/ESP32 RC battle bots — with live 3D printing on hand — and face off in a single-elimination bracket at Discovery Park. Every year gets a fresh theme, from the very first “Balloons” season in 2019 to today. Learn more about Botathon →