INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

Read the full press release and see other Bridge Battle competitions at RobotEvents.com.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

IFI will be hosting the new IRI of VEX...This should be interesting.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

Drat! That's the week before spring semester finals! :mad: Otherwise, I bet I'd be there.:(

No, I don't go to CSUN. It doesn't surprise me that they're hosting a championship event. Though I do wonder where they'll hold it. (The space they had for Hangin' Around wouldn't fit 1000 teams.)

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

1000 students not teams so I'm assuming at least 100 teams maybe max of 200-250.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

Still won't fit.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

I have to go to my brothers graduation, I am so bummed to miss this. My team is helping run the event. I will still be helping with a lot of the stuff, just wont actually be there. :( But my priorities are in order, although it stinks that 2 major events are happening at the same time.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

I am also quite curious to see where in CSUN this will be held. I live 4 minutes away and am there a lot for other things, and I can't seem to pinpoint a part of campus that I have been on that would be a suitable place to have a Vex event for over 1000 students (thinking about the team areas and all). Then again, the campus probably has an area somewhere, I mean if not this event wouldn't have been placed there. :p

But, a best of luck to the group and teams who are running/helping/planning it. I would like to help out and am sure the rest of the team would as well, so don't hesitate to ask!

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

Nica, Robodox will contact people for help later, so glad to know you and Element are interested. We will contact you later about it. Its still a long ways away. It is very very exciting.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

I'm of course interested, keep me informed :)

But like others said, where on CSUN will they put it?

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

In speaking with the people from CSUN, it seems they've been able to secure all the athletic facilities they need for this event. At this point, I think they have both the Matadome (basketball gymnasium, which I think seats over 3,000) reserved in addition to the entire Redwood Hall and a second gymnasium right next door for pit areas. They are confident they will be able to host around 100 teams, and if the demand exceeds that, we'll see what options are available.

We're also very excited about this event and are thrilled that it will be inclusive of all the top teams from Vex Bridge Battle events, FTC events, WPI Savage Soccer events, and more. We've heard from many teams in various countries that they are really looking forward to competing with teams from North America - so it should be a true World Championship celebration with an amazing collection of teams.

There are a number of great partners and sponsors working together to support the event - in particular, I've got to send kudos to Autodesk for making a direct donation to support every participating team by reducing the entry fee to only $100 per team (from the planned $300). Very cool.

Anyway, just wanted to clarify that CSUN does have facilities capable and available to host a great high quality event for many teams. Should be a terrific celebration and competition to finish the 2007/2008 season.

Happy holidays to everyone. Best regards,

Jason

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

Hate to disagree with you.......

Well, most teams have 10+ kids. So I'm guessing 50-100 teams. They had no problem doing 50ish teams last weekend, so I think they could do it. Especially if they did two divisions.

EDIT: Jason has a much better answer..... Let the page sit for a while before replying, didn't see those new post...

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

So the event starts tomorrow. Who will be attending this event? I was curious seeing no one has really been discussing it..
I'll be stopping by Saturday before work, seeing I live ridiculously close to the venue.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

I will be watching this event via webcast. I like how this event is extremely international (I believe half the teams are international team). Go Canada and China!

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

It's ONE WEEK too early.:mad: Otherwise I would be there (assuming no other commitments). Something about the weekend before finals...

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

Better than the middle of APs in my opinion.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

I'm sitting at the airport with a small group of Simbots, bound for LA. We're looking forward to a great weekend of Vex action!

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

Now I have this mental picture of Karthik at the airport surrounded by Vex robots, all waiting to board the plane. "Bwoo hah hah!" he exclaims. "No one caught on that Simbotics annihilation of FRC was just a diversion to keep the world from seeing my real master plan: truly autonomous Vex robots!" The robots all spin around in gleeful circles, snapping their grippers and juggling balls.

LA had better watch out.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

For those of you who can't be there in person (like me:mad: ); watch the webacst - Go to http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...80&postcount=1 for the info.

In addtion to the competition, there are supposed to be some interesting announcements at the end of Saturday.

Blake

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

I will be there saturday...if any of you see me, please say hello! I'll be one of the referees.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

There are a group of Goats there ready to show what Indiana Vex Robotics is all about. Good luck Nick and Chris!

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

congrats to the Chinese alliance, the number 3 alliance for winning this event

this looked a lot more fun than the FTC world championships, now i can see why im hearing VEX is going to attract mroe people than FTC. FIRST could have learned a thing or two from this event

btw: this game was really fun to watch, i'd love to see it adjusted to the point where it can be played with FRC bots

Karthik and Mark Leon made a electrifying announcing duo

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

I've been watching the finals of this event and am impressed.

The details they have announced about next year's game... local events, regional events, plus the Championship of the Americas (Omaha, Nebraska), Pan Pacific Championships (Hawaii) and Asian Robotics League Championship, all topped off with the World Championships in the spring... middle school, high school and college/university levels of competition... options for extended autonomous, OR no autonomous or the current mix (no details on how it will all work) are exciting.

The registration fees are... impressive: $75 for the first team from a school. $25 per team for each extra team from that school. And it is all done using a tested, proven control system with a wide range of components available.

It sounds like IFI has been listening to the feedback that teams have been giving FIRST about the VEX/FTC game.

One other interesting item I noticed... the game "sounds" (that start and end the game and telop mode) are the same as FIRST's... it may be possible that IFI owns the Intellectual Property on much of the current FIRST control systems.

In any case, I don't think our school's four VEX kits will be gathering dust on the shelf next year!

Jason

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

Anyone in University of Waterloo interested in starting a team?

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

Just got back, man was that amazing, albeit tiring. Great competition, the fact that 205 qualifiers were played essentially on time is astonishing. Great job IFI in running such a quality event.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

Haha, queing was NOT easy. :p

Congrats to winning alliance!

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

considering all the trouble Karthik had during alliance selections, i can obviously see why.

the two best quotes from karthik over the weekend.
"just say what i say" (tells the Chinese translator during alliance selection)
"team 3 rejecting 11 from the bridge, in the words of Decembe Matumbo "No no no""(comentary during finals match 2)

i'll upload the finals matches to youtube later today, is there any other place where i can find archives of the matches

anyone else think IFI will get new rookie teams into their program while FTC loses teams?

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

This game is very similar to the 2000 FRC Game. http://www.team237.com/2000game.html

I've uploaded videos I took from my camera on youtube:

SF1M1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMBeaHF-JLg
SF1M2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy_mQHwTEdA
SF2M2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0I6dhbgPbY
FM1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_i0FlnMHvM
FM2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD0K2EQXJKc

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

At this rate, the number of IFI teams will outgrow FTC combined with FRC in several years.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

Nice to see that they elevated the field for easier viewing. It really helps the audience. The lighting was also very cool.

Looks like IFI really put a great deal of thought into this.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

I really hope that FTC doesn't lose any teams, but the VEX entry fees... especially the reduced fee for more than one team from a single school... are very competitive, especially considering that many schools have an existing investment in VEX.

Consider the cost of running an FTC team: $450 for a subsidized kit, plus $275 (based on this year's number) for entry fees = $725.

Now I happen to have four VEX kits, plus extra motors and components sitting in my shop. The entry fee for four VEX teams would be $150, leaving each team almost $150 to buy extra parts for this year's competition.

Interestingly, I have about 24 students signed up for my Engineering 11 class for next year... four teams of six works out pretty nicely. At one of our neighbouring schools, where they have ten VEX kits, they are considering fielding 10 VEX teams next year. Between just two schools we have half of a regional competition....

Four VEX teams + spare parts for the same price as one FTC team with no spare parts is tough to argue. Although loyalty to FIRST will encourage me to run an FTC team just to give the new system a tryout... I would be doing a disservice to my students if I passed up the VEX game.

I think VEX is going to boom. But perhaps this is just one step towards FIRST's ultimate culture-changing goal.

Jason

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

There's the glass-half-full viewpoint! Rather than competition for FIRST, maybe we should look at this as successfully spreading the word beyond FIRST.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

You have now created more questions and doubts for me. We have 6 vex kits right now. I am trying to decide what direction to go. This was our first year and we are looking for the future.

I think we will do the FTC. NI is one of our sponsors and their headquarters are right here in Austin, Texas.

But VEX gives more options that is for sure.

Re: INAUGURAL VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
 

Yeah, I don't think FTC/VEX is an either/or proposition. The FIRST organization brings a lot to the table... including, I hope, the strength to wish VEX well in their efforts to fill a niche in the very broad spectrum of robotics competitions.

Jason