Innovation First, Inc and Revell Monogram LLC - Vex partnership

[Brandon Martus]

Northbrook, Illinois– (Business Wire) – October 31, 2006 – Revell Monogram LLC and Innovation First, Inc. announced today a global partnership for the design, marketing and distribution of the new Vex Robotics System, a product platform based on the award-winning original design developed in 2005.

In this partnership, Innovation First will be responsible for technical design, engineering development and manufacturing, while Revell will be responsible for the development of sales and marketing programs, channel strategies and distribution. IFI will maintain responsibility and control of all products and programs involved with the educational field, the FIRST Robotics competition, and other non*retail business ventures. http://www.vexforum.com/showthread.php?t=523

[Conor Ryan]

Sounds cool!

I saw a link to it on Make, and it looks pretty cool. Looks like Vex is going pimp with their new wheels:
http://www.makezine.com/blog/firstbig.jpg

The chassis system looks pretty cool also, as does that mechanism onside the arm.

[Billfred]

It seems like IFI really has it this time. The two gripes I had about Vex was price and the sort of thrown-in-headfirstness of the kit if you don't have a specific goal in mind, or if some of the concepts are a bit over your head. (Sure, there are forums online, but some younger kids might have parents who are skittish about message boards.) Judging from the Robot Magazine (http://botmag.com/articles/revell_vex.shtml) article, those problems are reduced or removed.

The only question that lingers in my mind is that of backwards-compatibility, although it seems like the hardware is similar from the pictures. (Perhaps the revised system will somehow adapt to standard male pin headers?)

[artdutra04]

The new Vex kits look much better for aiming to competitively sell Vex to the general public. In addition to the cheaper price, the ability to build a robot straight out of the box that can go and pick-up objects (such as the one above with the claw), will drastically help Vex gain widespread acceptance among the masses.

Since Innovation FIRST will continue to sell the traditional Vex kits, and with Revell marketing the new "consumer-friendly" Vex kits, everyone wins. More people buy Vex, and the people who already have Vex kits, as well as the FVC teams, can continue to use the more advanced/original kits. I personally cannot wait to see the new kits, in addition to all the new parts that IFI will be offering in the coming months. :p

Viva la Vex! :D

[KathieK]

Hobbico purchased Revell-Monogram (http://www.revell.com/News-Details.news_details+M5fef9ae0e82.0.html) in May.

[Jared W]

I talked with one of the guys at Revell at the FVC Championship in Atlanta and he said this new line of vex parts was mainly for consumer enjoyment.

Their goal was to have a robot out of the box and assembled and driving in less than an hour. Its merely for vex to get its foot in the marketplace again in a cheaper, simpler form.

As for backwards compatibility..I'm pretty sure that this new stuff won't be FVC legal..atleast he made the point that he thought it wouldn't be.

Jared

[Alex Cormier]

So when will it be out? Or is it no longer going to happen?

[Brandon Martus]

So when will it be out? Or is it no longer going to happen?
BotMag had a Vexplorer update last week:
http://botmag.com/articles/06-07-07_vexplorer.shtml