EV3 vs Vex IQ For Middle School

[Rich Kressly]

Originally Posted by FTC5110

It's an interesting conundrum. Although I totally agree giving kids a joystick gets them hooked pretty quick I'm biased towards initially removing all remote control options and make them learn something about programming! Helps to get rid of that video game mentality. The joystick is what keeps me away from VEX IQ.

So you'll want to consider the VEX IQ Starter Kit with Sensors (no controller included). http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexiq/pro...h-sensors.html

Or consider the Super Kit with Controller and Sensors, and pre-build the standard drive base and add the front sensor mount using demos of each sensor one at as time to hook the students, as they all have default functionality. That's right sensors do something they are supposed to right out of the box! It's an awesome way to explain what sensors are and what they do to a young student, then quickly move them to programming software to make the sensor do something else/more/different/the same.

The build instructions, control system user guide, and the sensor default functionality videos, all found here http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexiq/documents-downloads provide you with a lot of information on how to use the "out of the box tele-operated experience" as a means of getting kids into sensor use and programming much more quickly and easily than you might imagine.