THE VEX ROBOTICS COMPETITION Team 1241 Theory 6

THE VEX ROBOTICS COMPETITION Team 1241 - Theory 6 Robotics

Introduction • Great opportunity for middle school, high school and post secondary students. • Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) experience. • Hands on & realistic approach to learning. • Soft skills: teamwork, leadership, problem - solving. • Given way to other robotics products that cover education, consumer and business markets.

History of VEX • Created by Innovation FIRST in 1996 • Originally produced electronics for autonomous mobile ground robots. • Leader in educational and competitive robot products. • Several companies: VEX Robotics Inc. , Rack. Solutions Inc. , Innovation FIRST Labs Inc.

How does it work? • Pre-made modifiable parts • VEX Robotics releases a new game every year. • Team is responsible for designing, creating, programming and evaluating every other aspect involved. • Attend various regionals to compete. Winners and certain awards qualify for World Championships.

What does a VEX Robot look like?

The Regionals • Teams attend various regionals to compete with other local teams. • Play a certain number of qualification matches with random partners. • Top 8 at the end of QM, get to be “Alliance Captains”, who get to pick their own partners for the Elimination Rounds. • Robot & Programming Skills Challenges • Tournament Champions, Design & Excellence award winners qualify to World Championships.

The VEX Game • All games are played on a 12” by 12” field. • Each match features 4 robotics, two on each alliance of blue & red. • Match consists of autonomous and tele operated modes. • Certain constrains which the robot must meet with. • Game objects can be manipulated according to game rules. Autonomous Period: 20 seconds Tele-Op Period: 120 seconds

sack attack (12’ -13’)

The World Championship’s • Consists of 400 H. S Teams, split across 4 divisions: Science, Technology, Engineering & Math. • 100 Middle School and 50 college/university teams. • Teams play qualification matches to establish ranking, and then do the normal alliance selection. • Top 8 seeds play elimination rounds, and then the winning alliance of the division faces off against the winning alliances of the other divisions in an ultimate showdown. • Eliminations are best of three matches. • Have been held in Greenville, Dallas, Florida & Anaheim.

The Entrepreneurship Aspect • Each VEX team = Enterprise. • Several administrative tasks become key in being a successful. • Project Management • Accounts, Budget, Sponsorship • Media Outreach: Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Website. • Community Involvement

The Canadian Timeline • 2012 - 2013 VEX Robotics Season • Toronto VEX Robotics Competition - Dec 1, 2012 • Crescent VEX Robotics Scrimmage - Dec 8, 2012 • Southern Ontario Robotics Championship - Dec 15, 2012 • Central Toronto VEX Robotics Championship - Feb 2, 2013 • St. Catherine’s VEX Robotics Competition - Feb 9, 2013 • Mississauga VEX Robotics Competition - Feb 23, 2013

Are you a new team? • Initiation - Resources, Man Power, Time etc. • Finances & Budget • Project Management - Outline the Future, Delegate. • The VEX Game (Eg. Sack Attack): • Robot • Awards

It’s time to get involved. • It’s very easy to get involved in the VEX Robotics Competition. • Join a team, create a team. • Become a hobbyist, or a VEX Volunteer. • VEX Website: www. vexrobotics. com Important Links • www. vexrobotics. org • www. curriculum. vexrobotics. org • robotevents. com