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Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
IFI sent this press release for us to post.
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Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
Not too surprising considering that RadioShack dropped the ball on this one, but still surprising that IFI picked up the ball afterwards! Very nice!
Lets hope we see VEX in more stores now... |
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Not a surprising move, but definately a welcomed one. My biggest fear when i heard radioshack was getting doubts about Vex was that it would cease to exist. Vex is definately an innovative and amazing resource, tool, and toy! I hope that IFI keeps up the great work and keeps inspiring us with their Vex products.
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happy to see someone is there to pick the Vex up after radioshack dropped the ball. hoping it still in stores, but if not can always get it off there site :D
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Wow. I didn't realize IFI would have the capital to buy the rights. Good for them though; it really expands their company a great deal in the general consumer sector.
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Nice. Very, very nice. Having participated in FVC Game Design, I had the distinct pleasure of spending a little time with Tony Norman and even more with JVN in the past nine months or so. The amount of effort, care, and thoughtfulness Innovation First has put into this platform and program is nothing short of immense, dating all the way back to the "Edu-Bot". The way I see it, even though a large distributor in Radio Shack is lost, the real vision and passion behind the product now has the control and power to really help VEX grow in meaningful and lasting ways. The distribution hurdle is a very temporary thing. Congratulations to Innovation First. I look forward to the future with great anticipation.
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It's all great news to hear, but the broke college students and others around the world want to know one thing. Will the pricing go down/up?
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I, too, am glad to see IFI pick this one up. They did great with the Edubot, then came the Vex line, which was a great improvement in both cost and user-friendliness. (After all, when everyone has the same controller, life gets so much easier...and besides, the Mini RC alone is $250. Fifty bucks more for a radio and a bunch of hardware is a steal.)
I can't wait to see what all those crazy Texans will do next--but whatever it is, I bet it'll be awesome. |
Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
Seeing as how the state of things were with VEX and Radioshack, I think this is one of the best outcomes of the whole situation. I am curious to know how much the prices will fluctuate, if at all, but regardless I'm glad there will still be a supplier after Radioshack sells out their stock of VEX stuff.
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Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
i am very happy that the vex line is not going to disappear. this will help out my grandfather's/friend's robotics class at their school, now that they have a reliable dealer for parts.
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Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
I am relieved to see IFI taking the VEX up because VEX is an unique concept and cool idea, but we all know that products from RadioShack is not so great in quality. Therefore IFI is a small corporation that shows that the quality is superior, therefore the Vex BY IFI will be greatly improved. Price is not a concern if your sponsors can support you. This is another great news for everyone in FIRST community. Hope all goes well by IFI. *crosses fingers*
-WJS |
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There are probably many customers (e.g., my team) who will be very glad that these kits are going to be available from IFI. I'd buy one regardless of how they were branded. |
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It'd be nice if IFI started selling Vex controllers by themselves too... (goes back to scheming)
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http://www.vexlabs.com/vex-robotics-...it-parts.shtml |
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Yeah! :D
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(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 :) |
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And in the ultimate sign of irony for RadioShack, I think the Vex product line will finally take off now. |
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does this mean we will see more amazing vex robots by IFI?
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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 |
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I am very happy that Vexlabs continues to sell Vex Robotics products.
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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. |
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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.... |
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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
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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. |
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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!
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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.
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"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??? |
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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. |
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-Q |
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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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Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
Now that vexlabs has control of the vex line. Maybe vexlabs and inteliteck can get the software part together. Easy-c that is in the programing kit is kind of lame. Easy-c 2.0 is usable. ( our easy-c programed bot made it to the finals). First order is to get a updated easy- c 2.0 in the programming kit. Ideally I'd like to see vex and FRC easy-c kept as close as possible. That way teams could start newbies out on vex then move their code efforts over to the FRC and the big bot. After they're up to speed there they could take on mplab. In my opinion the original RS price for the vex hardware was a little to expensive.
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Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
I'm glad to hear that IFI is picking up VEX distribution.
I am very disappointed to hear RadioShack being criticized on this forum. They have been a significant sponsor of FIRST, a regular source of electrical bits for lots of teams, and they took the chance on a national distribution deal for an expensive, techie product. I didn't see Circuit City or Best Buy stepping up to the plate on this. They deserve our thanks as a supporter of FIRST, and I would like to suggest that a lot of you need to think about "gracious professionalism" and how it applies to more than just robot tournaments. I've been trying to think of a polite way of saying this, but most comments on these threads show a harsh, critical attitude that far outstrips the business knowledge demonstrated in those same posts. I can't recall anyone asking why RadioShack would have done this, but I do remember lots of people sounding like experts. Here's what probably happened. RadioShack picked up the VEX line the way they test-market lots of new things. They pioneered little metal stereo speakers like this by ordering 10,000 pairs of speakers. They did the same thing with the original TRS-80 Model I (which outsold the Apple II by a large margin). When building the TRS-80 in their own factories no longer made sense, they got rid of them and purchased computers made by others. They were the leading provider in the CB boom of the 70s, and got out (mostly) while nearly 20 other CB makers were going out of business. Right now, they are making a lot of money selling cell phones and related technology. If the VEX kits had sold, they would have kept them. They didn't sell well, so they are getting out of the business. It's no big deal -- there just isn't a mass retail market for high-end robotics kits. RadioShack isn't stupid (although their last CEO might have been), they don't make crappy equipment (it comes from the same factories in China that everyone else uses, or did you think that those stereos in the shops were really made by the companies on the front panel? nearly all consumer electronics equipment is manufactured by a handful of companies which then resell it through the familiar brand names you know), and they don't hate the robotics world. Relax. |
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shaun |
Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
On the topic of the VEX being used for curriculum, does anybody besides me think it would be awesome to have VEX be a part of PLTW instead of the Fischer techniks?
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I agree with you 100%. RadioShack in fact may provide from their 1/2 price sale a much broader user base that will save VEX. I was sort of ignoring VEX until the sale and now I can justify an exploratory purchase. I have found that the VEX is the same quality as the old EDUBOT kit with much more potential and support and at a lower cost. The quality of the component wheels, accessories and sensors is a great improvement over the EDUBOT. The controller is of course equivalent to the EDUBOT but has a cleaner design with universal interface to the outside. It too may go the way of the FRC controller and be upgraded with more memory and speed. We as a user community should recognize that RS is there to supply an lot of incedental electronic components that you can't find off the shelf most other retail settings. I have prototyped many circuits supplied with parts from RS and purchased late Saturday afternoon when no other sources were available. Let's go out and grow as a robotics community and utilize this gift from RS. They could have scrapped the VEX inventory afterall. Larry Upjohn, Mentor FRC team 692. |
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shaun |
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TRS-80: 250,000 Apple II: 2+ million http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80 http://oldcomputers.net/appleii.html http://oldcomputers.net/trs80i.html Intrestingly enough, the Model 1 of the TRS-80 stoped production in the US due to FCC communication interferance problems, not RadioShack streamlinging production. Anyway, back to the normal conversation. I agree, RadioShack did good here, but as always, they could have done better, but of course, FIRST can always do better too. |
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Yeah, I am glad this happened. I was starting to get kinda worried. It seems to me that Radio Shack did a very poor job of promoting the VEX robotics kits.
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Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
score one for FIRST!!!
i am very happy for FIRST for buying the vex line. i guess it was time for FIRST to "cash in their chips" and make investments. i really hope the price goes down on everything, now. i never even considered this as a reason for the vex 1/2price sale. overall, i just think this is great for innovation FIRST. |
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Anyways, Congrats to IFI for this great move. I wish them all the best in this transition phase, and I hope that they are successful in this new venture as I am sure they will be. |
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The Model I had FCC compliance problems, but Radio Shack replaced it with the Model 3 and 4 which didn't. They stopped making PCs when it became cheaper to buy them than build them (1984?). Radio Shack has always done some manufacturing (TV antennas, CB radios, cable), but always gets out of building when buying is cheaper. Their mission has always been to be a distributor of consumer electronics, not a manufacturer. |
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I'm also real glad to see IFI keep Vex alive, but have to wonder if they will be able to market it beyond FIRST and the educational channels spawned by educators already involved in FIRST?
Maybe it was different in other areas, but while Radio Shack was "selling" Vex, and I use the term very loosely, I never saw them prominently displayed any store - mostly they were deep in the back corners. I would've been surprised if they had sold many! Vex is a really neat product, but its not going to sell itself. I hope IFI can find ways to make Vex visible to the world outside of FIRST. Besides spreading a good thing around, this would give IFI the revenue needed to add features and maybe even reduce the cost of entry. Maybe even bring in enough competitors for FIRST Vex to have FVC stand alone! That would be something IFI (and FIRST Vex supporters) could really be proud of. |
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This is very good news!
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Unfortunately after RadioShack has dropped it, I don't see many other retailers selling the Vex kit nationally either. It's all fine for us since IFI will sell it, but I wouldn't count on seeing Vex anwhere on shelves again for along time. |
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yay for IFI!! honestly, i will never buy another thing from radio shack but after i said that, i still bought a vex kit from there, i guess they arent that bad
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are any of the prices for vex stuff going to change now that Dean's empire includes VEX? :confused:
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I would not mind seeing figures of profit made when the price dropped. I went out and spent some scholarship money on a kit and many other of the accessories (275 dollars worth) but I can not afford on my budget anything at the set price. I can see how competition teams, both FRC and FVC, can afford this with sponsorships, and also schools for curriculum. I wonder, however, if this is targeted to high school students as a shelf product if it sold better at a lower price. Which would the majority of high school students buy if given the choice for a $300 Christmas present, an Xbox360 or a Vex kit?
That being said, I am very happy with my kit, and am looking forward to projects in the future. I shall be putting my ps2 controller down for a while during the summer. Go IFI, turn this thing into something BIG! |
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People would rather spend money on TV sets, music players, cell phones, game consoles, etc, than on building sets. They would rather watch TV, listen to music, play games, waste time talking to other people, etc, than to try to invent anything.
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Re: Innovation First acquires Vex from Radio Shack
I only hope that IFI will find a way to keep Vex in the non-FIRST retail arena. Best Buy or Circuit City, or some other retailer(s). Vex is still the best tool for recruiting new schools and students into FIRST. I don't want to see Vex revert to another niche market.
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-JV |
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I am also advising all FIRST teams to get a kit plus a programming kit. If you can program the Vex kit, the FIRST RC will be very familiar, just more capable. An excellent tool to educate your new team members... Oh, yes: Am having loads of fun with my Vex kit. Don |
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