VEX Robotics Expands Into Elementary With Launch Of VEX IQ

[Gregor]

Totally blown away, I'm very impressed. This is fantastic.

[dcarr]

Looks awesome. I'd be curious to see a comparison to Lego offerings from someone who's more familiar with them. We want to invest in some kits for a camp we're running this summer, and it's now a tossup between something Arduino based, Mindstorms, or now this.

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by dcarr

Looks awesome. I'd be curious to see a comparison to Lego offerings from someone who's more familiar with them. We want to invest in some kits for a camp we're running this summer, and it's now a tossup between something Arduino based, Mindstorms, or now this.

To me, it looks like this can make a great thing for middle school. FLL does sometimes seem to be too low-level for these kids(especially 8th grade) and this seems like the perfect transition.

I absolutely love all of this new stuff. I wish I had that Autodesk program when i was learning CAD

[jason_zielke]

I watched the announcement live on the VEX World Championship webcast and I was thoroughly impressed.

Missing from the above release is that Project Lead the Way (PLTW) will be launching a K-5 curriculum with the system in the Fall 2014. I think the feeder system for all existing FRC teams (and the potential future teams) is going to get much more robust in the near future.

The feeder programs are going to continue to grow at an even faster pace now...all the FRC teams out there need to figure out how to make room for all the excited (and probably well trained) students that will be coming up in the future.

This is great news for growing STEM education!

[mman1506]

The smart motors are really neat. They have there own MSP430's and a encoder. I am guessing they operate over I2C so I wonder if they will ever make them first legal.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by mman1506

The smart motors are really neat. They have there own MSP430's and a encoder. I am guessing they operate over I2C so I wonder if they will ever make them first legal.

Nothing is impossible--the Vex 393 motor is legal this year--but it would require IFI to make a sizeable donation to get them legal (they offered one and the related speed controller to every team in FRC through a PDV).

In any case, I'm intrigued by the possibilities. I know that software was the thorn in my side as a camp counselor with limited time to run the show using RCX-era Mindstorms robots; the kids used IR remotes a lot of times as a fallback. Having a stout R/C setup built in would certainly have a lot of appeal if the rest of the platform bears out.

[coalhot]

I'm loving the new system. Really tempted to get one for myself.

Also loving the new VEX game. It's intrigued me enough to consider starting/joining a team and building a college bot.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by coalhot

I'm loving the new system. Really tempted to get one for myself.

I took one look at the site and immediately started thinking along similar lines. And that was before I looked at what products are currently listed.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by DevenStonow

To me, it looks like this can make a great thing for middle school. FLL does sometimes seem to be too low-level for these kids(especially 8th grade) and this seems like the perfect transition.

I absolutely love all of this new stuff. I wish I had that Autodesk program when i was learning CAD

I don't know about VRC, but I know FTC has started to reach into middle schools to start teams at that level, which I think is a great way to go. By 8th grade you see these giant robots you know you get to touch next year and FL seems kinda small in comparison.

[akoscielski3]

The amount of work Vex has done to really try and revolutionize Education is amazing. With the range of programs now no school or board has an excuse not to implement Vex or any other Robotics Program into all of the schools. I can't wait to walk into any school and see kids and teens building and learning what they are interested in, instead of being told what they have to learn and know.

Thank You VEX!

[Ivan Malik]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

I don't know about VRC, but I know FTC has started to reach into middle schools to start teams at that level, which I think is a great way to go.

Don't quote me, but I think in Michigan ALL FTC teams are middle school level... via some FiM pilot type thing. But I can't find any reference other than a vague reference on the splash page for FTC at FiM's website, to verify this.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Ivan Malik

Don't quote me, but I think in Michigan ALL FTC teams are middle school level... via some FiM pilot type thing. But I can't find any reference other than a vague reference on the splash page for FTC at FiM's website, to verify this.

That's great to hear. I think FTC is a great middle school program. I know we are trying to introduce the program to middle schools in Virginia, and I hope that the moving to districts in 2015 will move many high school FTC teams to FRC.