Undergraduate Turns Passion for Robotics into Academic Success

Jude Onyenze won his first Undergraduate Research Scholar Award in 2024 for a project involving an octopuslike underwater robot named Kraken. The mechanical engineering senior received a second award in April for a team robotics project.

Next, he plans to enter his work on a robotic hand in the 2026 competition in hopes of scoring an academic hat trick.

“I’m going to see if I can go 3-for-3,” he said.

The Office of Undergraduate Education at The University of Texas at Dallas is accepting proposals for the 2025-2026 Undergraduate Research Scholar Awards through Nov. 17. The program is designed to recognize undergraduate researchers and facilitate their professional development. It includes a poster contest on April 14 and a finals competition on April 17 during Undergraduate Research Week.

Competing is part of the fun of designing and building robots, Jude said.

“Robotics is basically my form of sports,” he said. “I love the excitement you feel when you see the score, and you win.”

The student, who is from Wylie, Texas, became fascinated with robotics at Lakeview Centennial High School in Garland. He joined the school’s robotics team and participated in an international competition.

Jude said he is also inspired by superheroes, particularly Spider-Man.

“My entire life I’ve always loved superheroes,” he said. “I love the idea that you can build something that can do amazing, fantastic things beyond what any human can accomplish.”

When it came time to apply for college, Jude’s sister, Adanna Onyenze BS’21, MS’23, an adjunct professor of math at Collin College, convinced him that UT Dallas was the right fit.

At UT Dallas, he joined the student organization Comet Robotics and helped found a team to design, build and program VEX robots to perform tasks such as shooting balls into goals, stacking cubes and manipulating other game objects for the VEX U Robotics Competition.

As a winning team, Comet VEX U received an invitation in its first year to advance to the VEX Robotics World Championship. Jude helped Comet Robotics raise donations for equipment through an Impact UTD campaign.

Through Comet Robotics, Jude also became friends with Jess Huffine, an electrical engineering sophomore, who now leads the Comet VEX U team.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone who has as much passion for robotics as Jude. It seems like everywhere he goes, he finds a way to mix robotics in,” Huffine said. “Working with him is a pleasure.”

Dr. Yonas Tadesse, professor of mechanical engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, first met Jude in his Humanoid, Biorobotics and Smart Systems Lab, where the student researcher replaced parts and added cameras to his robot Kraken.

“Jude engaged quickly and solved the issues,” Tadesse said. “He’s self-motivated; I don’t need to motivate him to do anything.”

Each research opportunity has led to another. In the summer, Jude was selected for an internship at the Human Augmentation via Dexterity Engineering Research Center (Hand ERC) at Northwestern University through the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates program.

This semester, Jude is working in the Intelligent Robotics and Vision Lab, led by Dr. Yu Xiang, assistant professor of computer science. He is using machine learning to teach a robotic hand to perform tasks, such as repositioning an object.

As a member of the organizations Black in Robotics and Black in AI, Jude hopes his interest in robotics can inspire others. Designing, building and testing robots requires knowledge of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science and biology. But for Jude, robotics is just fun.

“Bringing ideas to life is supercool,” he said. “Seeing my design grow is so fulfilling, and that makes the mix of anxiety and stress of it all worth it.”

Participating in the past two UT Dallas undergraduate research competitions helped the student researcher continue to develop his skills. He used part of his $500 prize to buy a 3D printer, which he uses for projects including his robot hand. He has used other winnings to buy electronics and materials to build and improve the team’s robots.

He encourages undergraduate students to get involved in research related to their interests and enter the competition.

“Email professors; show interest in their work; go to club meetings; build or design projects; and share ideas,” Jude said. “If you consistently show that you care and that you’re curious, and if you are creative with how you showcase your work, people will notice that energy. Passion is contagious, and that’s usually all it takes to start making amazing things happen.”