At the Central Illinois Regional, DERT ranked 4th overall after qualifications and was chosen as the first pick of Alliance 2. Alongside Team 4143, Mars/Wars, and Team 8719, Oakville Dynamics, they stormed through the playoffs. After dropping the first match of the finals, the alliance fought back to tie the series in Finals 2 before clinching the tournament title with a victory in Finals 3.
At the Central Illinois Regional, DERT also earned the Excellence in Engineering Award, recognizing the team’s outstanding engineering design and the high-quality work behind their robot. The award highlighted the team’s creativity and technical skill in designing a robot that was both technically impressive and highly efficient.