Official 2007 Milwaukee Vex League Announcement:
Note The Milwaukee Vex League and its associated events are NOT official FIRST events and do NOT use the FVC game.
Greetings teams! The 2007 FRC season has come and gone, but its never too early to start thinking about 2008. Many of your teams were involved in the 2006 Milwaukee Vex League and you made it a huge success. The Milwaukee Vex League will be back this fall for its third year, and this time it will be bigger than ever!
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Mentor Challenge**
New this year is something that has never been done before. As you read this, students are hard at work preparing a game to be played by the mentors! Every year, mentors give their time to teach students about engineering, and now they’ll have a chance to put their own skills to the test.
On August 18th, the Mentor Challenge game will be released via website and teams of mentors will then have six weeks to come up with their own robot. A tournament will be held on September 29th where mentors will face off. The event will be completely student run – talk about a role reversal! The competition will be limited to 24 teams of mentors. Keep watch at www.msoe.edu/st_orgs/mfso for updates and information, but if you are interested in fielding a robot as a mentor or a group of mentors, please contact us within the next week and let us know you’re interested.
Registration is intended for local mentors, but if space permits, anyone is welcome to compete. If you are seriously interested, let us know!
MVL Kickoff
The kickoff event at Discovery World last year was a blast, and we’re glad you all came. Those of you who couldn’t make it were hopefully able to view the webcast. In an effort to make the kickoff event more accessible, it will be held in conjunction with the Mentor Challenge on September 29th. The mentors will have their fun, and then at the conclusion of the tournament, the new MVL game will be revealed. The game is currently in development by several students from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, as well as some local mentors. If you thought King of the Rings was an interesting game…just wait!
Milwaukee Vex League
The League will be shorter this year, reduced to five weeks. The day is still being determined (i.e. Tuesday or Thursday), but the first week of league play will be the week of October 15th and league nights will be held until the week of November 12th. Due to the spread of interested teams, we are looking into the possibility of running two simultaneous leagues this year – Downtown and West. Teams that participated in the Downtown league last year were 1675, 1714, 1732, and 1864. The West league would cater to 269, 537, 706, 1259, 2062, 2077, and 2202. ALL teams are welcome to either league. The Leagues are primarily for FRC teams to prepare for the upcoming season, but if space permits (which will be venue dependent), other groups are welcome to participate each week. Again, look for details about registration and details regarding league nights soon on www.msoe.edu/st_orgs/mfso. We do ask, however, that if your team is interested in participating, please let us know within the week how many Vex robots your team would be fielding, which league you would be interested in, and if attending the West league, if your team would be interested in hosting a league night and/or offering a presentation. This is not a commitment to anything, just a way to let us know what to plan for.
The League will be run in the same format as last year – each week will begin with setup by everyone, followed by a 30-45 minute workshop/presentation on a topic related to FRC, and then competition rounds. Each night will run from 5:30-8:30, with everyone helping to setup and cleanup.
Milwaukee Vex Challenge
At the conclusion of the leagues, there will again be an open tournament. Details are forthcoming, but the single day event will be similar to last year with two fields, pits, judges, and all the frills of a scaled down FRC tournament. The date is set for either December 1st/2nd or December 8th/9th – depending on the FLL State Tournament. The event will be open to both league and non-league competitors.
Remember that the goal of the MVL is to prepare new students and new teams for the upcoming FRC season. The tournament will be run just like an FRC tournament so they know what is going on before they get there. League nights are educational and provide an opportunity to test out designs and get to know other teams. This is not meant to be a competitive battle, but rather a chance for teams in Wisconsin to raise the standard. We all go home winners at the end of the day. We encourage you to pass on the word to any rookie teams that you may be mentoring for the 2008 season and get them involved.
As with the Mentor Challenge, the event is primarily for local groups, but if space permits, anyone is welcome to attend. If seriously interested, let us know!
We look forward to an outstanding 2007 MVL and hope you will be a part of it! Please send any inquiries and all requested information to: [email protected]
Thanks,
Milwaukee Vex League Committee
**Note: The Milwaukee Vex League Committee is comprised of students and mentors from FRC Teams 1675 and 1714, as well as students from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. All events are made possible through venue donations and attendee volunteers.