;tl;dr; I believe that Robots Rock, pick a platform, pick a competition, go build a robot!
I've done VEX since 2006, first with High School Students and then a focus on Middle School. We started focusing on Middle School with the intent of using our program as a feeder to the FRC team at the high school level.
VEX is perfect for middle school. Metal parts, gearing, limited motors, limited other parts means think "outside the box, but inside this world". Lots of great robots come from that. We send roboteers off to FRC with "righty tighty" skills and a ton of practical, things that they know work.
FRC is think outside a much bigger box, and our roboteers love it. Well about 70% do, the other 30% go "Wait, I have constant access to the bot". But we go "Yes, less bot time, but CAD, machining parts, welding, MORE POWER, bigger robots, more team work and a cool hat"
http://wiki.team1640.com/index.php?t...le:SpyGear.png
So we do feed FRC.
Turn 180 degrees, to the FLL roboteers. They build Lego robots and program. The Chief Roboteer of that program is Scott Featherman, who sinks thousands hours into that effort. A cool part of FLL is that the roboteers are Lego ninjas. And they are backed by billions of parts. So they are not constrained by the "KOP" They have access to every brick ever made. Scott does elementary, I focus on middle, feed FRC (and some roboteers stay VEX high school)
"FTC??" Yes, not a lot in this area. I run STEM Robotics. I get calls about "I want to start a robot team" We give them grant money to start, some mentor training, hook them up with a VEX team and off they go.
Except in areas where not a big VEX base but a huge FTC base (Looking at all the teams J&J sponsored on the right Coast). So we give them grant money, point them to a FTC team, and off they go.
Too late to make a long story short. Love FRC, VEX and FLL. Looking at the new VEX IQ parts, but it needs to fit into our existing structure. I have a limited amount of $$$ to spend, so it needs to be cost effective.
I'm excited to see the new VEX parts, but I want them to be Lego compatible. I want to leverage Lego build skills that they have now to new / better robots. Not so interested in reinventing the wheel. But I'll preorder my kit, I want to see for myself.