[ManicMechanic]

We didn't see any other Vex bots (admittedly, only saw 2 others). The other teams put together robots with individual components. One team we talked to extensively spent about $500, plus about $400 of leftover parts from the previous year. Compared to this, the Vex kit is a bargain. We used a very simple robot built from the starter kit (no add-ons) with only one manipulator that placed second. So far, Robot Ramble hasn't been very popular at our Science Olympiad -- one year, only 3 of the 15 teams entered a robot at all.