VEX Robotics Relaunches VEXpro Product Line with over 120 New & Improved Products

[Libby K]

I am so, SO impressed.
Can't wait to work with this stuff.
Mad props to IFI on this.

[MattC9]

The last time I was this happy I was first getting into FRC.

[Brandon_L]

Originally Posted by MattC9

The last time I was this happy I was first getting into FRC.

Amen

[Madison]

Having spent a bit of time playing around and looking at the different CAD models, I am now very impressed. These are a very well-designed set of components that work together in many combinations.

Excellent work.

[CalTran]

So in answer, yes, we're a bit traditional on drivetrain allotment

[sanddrag]

This is going to be a great FIRST season. The best thing in the new lineup is the 7075 gears.

What I wish they would offer though is the 7075 #25 hubbed sprockets with a smaller bore (7/16" or less).

We'll likely be making our own for 2013, but if we didn't (as in the past), we'd be going to AndyMark for them.

[dtengineering]

Well, well, well... I just happen to be needing a couple dozen CIMs and speed controllers for a non-FRC application.

Fortunately I don't need them until after kickoff... I've got a feeling VEX's shipping department is going to be a bit like Santa's workshop for the next few weeks.

IFI earned my respect a decade ago with their equipment and support. Then they came up with that whole awesome VEX thing. Now this... sign me up as a fanboy.

Jason

P.S. I love the other FRC vendors, too... but IFI has been there "forever" for me.

[Mark Sheridan]

Good thing my team is having a meeting this saturday to start ordering all the part we think we need for the build season. The timing could not be more perfect.

[Renee Becker-Blau]

This is fantastic! These are awesome changes that are going to make a huge impact on the designs of 2013 FRC robots.

We have a huge FRC workshop coming up this Saturday, we'll have to point this out to the teams.

[Siri]

This is fantastic. Amazing, amazing job.


If you haven't seen the video, watch it.

[ttldomination]

I had a couple of shocks as I was going through the list.

The first was the pricing. As a mentor who recently joined a different team, I'm trying to get my team to be more proactive in spending and investing in items to build our inventory. This new pricing will be much easier for other mentors/students to swallow.

The flexibility. At first, I saw that you had some basic gearboxes and wheels, and my thought was, "whoop-de-flippin-do", but then I saw all of the output shaft configurations and the flexibility of the VersaHubs. Amazing.

I don't know if it's "game changing" per say, but it's a new, fresh look at the game.

- Sunny G.

[waialua359]

I'm glad we got a vendor that does free shipping to Hawaii for all IFI products!
including pallets!

[JohnSchneider]

I think were most excited about having a supplier for hex shaft and bearings right down the road. It was getting bothersome ordering all of that online!

And the rest of the products arent bad either

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Great job John and crew! It looks like you've put together some high quality offerings that look really sharp.

I'm really pumped to see all of the recent activity in the FRC sized robot hardware game. Having a bunch of cheap and reliable component options is going to do numbers for the growth and sustainability of this (and similar) programs.

[Tristan Lall]

Nice work with that product line. Very nice work.

IFI's experience with engineering for mass production appears to have resulted in a great feature set at an excellent price point. They've definitely shaken up the economics of FRC in a good way! (I'm very curious about the business model and the profit margin, though....)

It's going to be interesting to see AndyMark adapt to this: they've released some nice new components as well, but I can't help but conclude they've been grossly upstaged. AndyMark has the FIRSTChoice contract, but they're going to have to work on optimizing the details to catch up to IFI's latest offerings. And since it's too late for major part changes for 2013, will this force AndyMark to cut prices and reduce their 2013 earnings targets?

I hadn't recently thought to count the number of staff working for IFI with top-quality FRC experience—but they've got a dream team going there, for sure. AndyMark has expertise, but (I presume) doesn't have the financial flexibility to pay a horde of FRC experts to work on things they're passionate about for a year, and doesn't have the supply chain and in-house manufacturing capability to turn out a completely new product line in that time.

On a wholly speculative note, I wonder what kind of market pressure it would take for AndyMark (a smallish business) to conclude that if you can't beat them, join them?

As for BaneBots, given IFI's new planetaries, they're done for. There is a 0% chance that I'd waste my time dealing with BaneBots' frequently unreliable gearheads, or their hit-and-miss service, when IFI—full of people I know and trust—is offering a substitute at a comparable price, with the promise ("coming soon") of better documentation and reasonable prospects for on-time delivery. BaneBots can't be making much profit on their low-end can motors, and unless they have a huge surprise for us, that's essentially all they'll be selling to FRC teams this year—I doubt they'll be back in 2014.

It seems strange to think of FRC as a real, functioning market, but IFI's newfound strength is certainly going to make 2013 an interesting year from an economic point of view.

One more thing to consider: there's the prospect of a new control system platform in the future, and I don't doubt that IFI wants to supply it. Will they be in a position of such strength in a year's time that they'll have cornered the market on both controls and mechanical hardware in FRC? Wouldn't that be a satisfying resolution to their ouster from FVC and the loss of the FRC control system contract a few years ago?