From May 23 to 24, the preliminary round of the VEX U Special Competition (Wuhan Division) of the 9th China University Intelligent Robot Creativity Competition was held at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. The competition attracted numerous universities, including Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Chongqing University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen Technology University, and Harbin Institute of Technology (Weihai Campus).

Xi’an Jiaotong University’s VEX U Robotics Team selected two teams, XJTU1 and XJTU4, to participate. After two days of intense competition, XJTU4 won the runner-up in the alliance competition, third place in the skills competition, and the Design Award among 28 participating teams nationwide. XJTU1 won third place in the alliance competition. Both teams performed excellently and secured qualifications for the national finals.

In the lead-up to the competition, team members worked overtime after classes, collaborating closely to design, machine, assemble, and debug robots based on the season’s tasks. They developed multiple targeted strategies according to the competition rules and opponents’ conditions. Facing fierce competition, the XJTU1 and XJTU4 teams remained composed and delivered stable performances, continuously optimizing robot structures, autonomous programs,driving skills, and real-time strategies. They demonstrated strong competitiveness in both the skills competition and the alliance competition.

The VEX Robotics Competition is a global robotics event for youth, requiring teams to independently design, build, program, and debug robots based on the annual challenge, and to complete skills challenges and alliance matches on a specified field. VEX U is the university-level category, focusing on teams’ comprehensive abilities in robot system integration, mechanical structure design, program control, field strategy, and teamwork. This preliminary round of the VEX U Special Competition (Wuhan Division) is a key regional event for the current season.

Xi’an Jiaotong University’s VEX Robotics Team has long engaged in learning, training, and competitions through the university’s robotics innovation practice platform. Under the unified leadership and coordination of the School of Mechanical Engineering, the Practice Teaching Center, the Academic Affairs Office, and the Youth League Committee, the team organizes students to participate in robotic creative design, structural construction, program control, and competitive matches. The achievements in the Wuhan division represent an important outcome of the team’s ongoing efforts to promote interdisciplinary engineering practice and innovative talent cultivation. Moving forward, the team will thoroughly summarize the lessons learned from this competition, continue to refine robot performance and competition strategies, and strive for even better results in the national finals.

Xi’an Jiaotong University consistently upholds its educational philosophy of “high starting point, solid foundation, strict requirements, and emphasis on practice.” By leveraging the innovation and entrepreneurship education practice base as a hub and using university student disciplinary and technology competitions as project-driven motivators, the university focuses on cultivating students’ innovation and entrepreneurship abilities and fostering high-level innovation outcomes. These efforts have led to positive progress and significant achievements in developing a distinctive experimental teaching and innovation entrepreneurship education system with Jiaotong University characteristics.