[FTC]: FVC (Vex) VS. FTC (Tetrix)

[gblake]

Something to add to JesseK's list of comparisons is the list of 5 (at least) open VRC tournaments available within a 2 hour drive of Virginia's Prince William County; and the two (a scrimmage plus a regional) "closed" tournaments the county schools are going to put on for the school system's middle schools.

I enjoy being able to take my team to several VRC Regional tournaments each season (Starting Oct 31st this year and ending shortly before the World Championships). I enjoy seeing the 5-ish teams from two county high schools out there cooperating and competing with us.

I enjoy organizing one of those tournaments; and I enjoy volunteering in the rest (and in the FTC events, and in some FRC events). These several VRC Regionals aren't quite as fancy as the MD and VA FTC championships, but they are more plentiful.

For both FTC and VRC I like that good middle schools students can hold their own against older students.

For both FTC and VRC I enjoy that 4H clubs, home schooling groups, and plain old clusters of friends are finding their way into the programs; and are often excelling.

I think FTC has an edge in explicit connections to college scholarships. For students nearing the end of high school that can be an important reason to form an FTC team.

I like that VRC has a college-level division. Our local community college system just used Vex parts in a couple of summer workshops for students. Now, if they care to, they can use the workshop's equipment to enter the college level competition.

Finally, being able to easily (I think) organize an official VRC regional by finding a modest number of teams, a modest amount of money, and then just following the tournament rules, is one aspect of VRC's lower barriers-to-entry that I like about the VRC program. I feel like it is a good step in the direction of having STEM/Robotics become a part of each community (like little league baseball, soccer, dance lessons, Scouts, etc.). The SEAPerch program Jesse mentions has similar low barriers-to-entry advantages.

Blake