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-   -   Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46638)

Steve S. 17-04-2006 15:39

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
(just to put this out there, IFI does not have the Vex name now, Innovation First does. IFI is the supplier of FRC which is owned by Innovation First. The Vex name belongs to Innovation First and Vex Labs.)

Well, im glad that vex no longer belongs to radio shack......maybe now ill buy a vex kit :)

artdutra04 17-04-2006 16:13

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by JVN

OMG, having the ability to buy every single piece in the Vex kits a la carte is awesome! Now, if you want to get an "autonomous-only" Vex kit, or if you are an educator and want to stock up on a lot of controllers, this is amazing! If this is any sign of future things to come, I think Vex has an amazing future ahead. Congrats IFI!

And in the ultimate sign of irony for RadioShack, I think the Vex product line will finally take off now.

Michael Leicht 17-04-2006 16:24

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
does this mean we will see more amazing vex robots by IFI?

JVN 17-04-2006 17:00

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
All,
Let me try to answer a few questions. If I miss anything, feel free to post; we will try to get everything answered as quickly as possible. We are happy to share this good news with the FIRST community.

Pricing:
The current pricing listed on VexLABS.com will not change in the near future (i.e. $299 for a starter kit).

Availability:
All Vex product will be available through VexLABS.com web sales.
Those items that are currently out-of-stock will become available ASAP.

As mentioned in the above announcement, other options of distribution are being considered. No matter what, you can count on VexLABS.com to remain a source of Vex products.

Development:
With this announcement comes the green-light to start development on the MANY new ideas we have for the future of Vex. I don't know exactly what is coming, but I'm excited about the potential. (Yes, hopefully they'll let me spend some time on new super-robots).

Web Presence:
Some have noticed that vexrobotics.com is now a link to a RadioShack.com product page. This will change in the future; the entire web layout for Vex is going to be revamped. We now own the URL vexrobotics.com, and intend to expand ASAP. There is a lot of potential there, and we intend to include as much as possible. (Open community forums, advanced tech support, published designs, revamped vexcad.com, all are ideas on the table.)

Personally, I think this is great news. I'm glad we've gotten the chance to share it with all of you. I think this is an exciting time for the Vex program, and we'll hopefully see a very bright future.

-JV

jeffmorris 17-04-2006 17:20

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
I am very happy that Vexlabs continues to sell Vex Robotics products.

GlennGraham 17-04-2006 17:21

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
I've been a LEGO robotics coach for a few years and have really been bitten by the robotics bug. I've been working with the Vex hardware/software for a few months (have to do research for our future Vex team) and have been really pleased.

This news about Innovation First acquiring Vex sounds great (puts the vision in the hands of someone close to the robotics hobbyist community). I also like what I have heard on this forum. One thing I haven't heard discussed is how this is likely to effect Intelitek and EasyC.

dhitchco 17-04-2006 17:31

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
In order to get a bona fide robotics curriculum into every high school in the world, it will take a partnership between some school book publishing company (tbd?) and the "new" makers of VEX, Innovation First.....

Maybe all of us in the FIRST community can brainstorm such a curriculum and then the folks at IFI can develop the actual course content. I'd love to go into the schools and teach a course curriculum built-up around the VEX technology! Think of it as college-level mechanical and electrical engineering taught at the high-school level.....

Then, lastly, ala Apple Computer Corp., the folks at IFI will have to flood the school systems with VEX hardware at discounted prices.

VEX must become the backbone of a solid robotics curriculum to get science back into the forefronts of our high school programs......GO....

Vince lau 17-04-2006 17:46

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
i hope they come up with a Canadian source to sell the products. I have about $400 worth of vex stuff coming up this weekend via my sister (to save on shipping and taxes). Maybe I can start my own business and start selling kits and accessories here :P

Rich Kressly 17-04-2006 18:08

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
Curriculum.....

There is some of that "stuff" in the Inventor's Guide and more of it at CMU's Robotics Institute website. I was also a part of a group that plugged Vex into a new course being taught at the two high schools in the Lower Merion, PA district next year. The course comes directly from "TEAP" and is called Innovation & Invention. This is structured for PA, but it's applicable to any state with a little work.

Basic framework of the course we are using is found here:
http://www.teap-online.org/publicati...innovation.htm

I've been involved in several curriculum/standards/robotics projects in the last year and I'd be more than happy to work with anyone interested in developing a course. Given the curriculum cycle in most places, it's more than likely any full-blown new courses would have to be approved next year for inclusion in 2007-2008. We began the process for next year's course approval back in the fall. Our district process includes a two-step written proposal, presentation to the school board, and final board approval. By the time our group advanced to the presentation phase, we had kids demonstrating actual Vex robots while our Technology Ed staff did the presentation. It's unlikely you could squeeze that whole process in for next year at this point, however there are plenty of ways to encorporate the Vex system into existing courses as well.

Please email or PM me if you have further interest.

JoeXIII'007 17-04-2006 18:41

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
VEX is an excellent platform to tinker and experiment with, and I am very pleased that IFI bought up the VEX brand, platform, etc. Great news!

jeffmorris 17-04-2006 18:43

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
I found out that the new Lego Mindstorms NXT set has only three output ports and four input ports. The Vex Micro Controller has 8 output ports and 12 input ports.

fish 17-04-2006 18:45

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
"We’ll also be stepping up efforts to drive innovation into the product assortment and will offer even more unique parts through the www.vexlabs.com website.”

I am psyched about the new parts. Maybe they'll improve the VEX chain so it can handle a bit more strain(many unfortunate breaks happened in competition:(). What products do you think they'll unveill???

GlennGraham 17-04-2006 21:13

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffmorris
I found out that the new Lego Mindstorms NXT set has only three output ports and four input ports. The Vex Micro Controller has 8 output ports and 12 input ports.

Kind of off topic but I believe you are right. The old RCX had 3 inputs, 3 outputs but you could hook some combinations of sensors together to utilize the same input. This is definitely an area of strength for Vex.

On the programming side, though, I really like the power of event driven programming and multiple threads that Robolab (or nqc) and the LEGO RCX supports.

Qbranch 17-04-2006 21:29

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by GlennGraham
Kind of off topic but I believe you are right. The old RCX had 3 inputs, 3 outputs but you could hook some combinations of sensors together to utilize the same input. This is definitely an area of strength for Vex.

On the programming side, though, I really like the power of event driven programming and multiple threads that Robolab (or nqc) and the LEGO RCX supports.

Remember that you can program the Vex controller in MCC18. (Check this link for the MCP, workspace, and header files). I have used MCC18 with the VEX controller to find a way to interface the CMUcam with the VEX controller.

-Q

Donut 17-04-2006 21:31

Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
 
This is great news for alot of teams. After building a mini-game robot in under 2 weeks, and seeing what team 40 has done, I'm glad to know Vex will still be around and be an option for testing and training next year.


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