I am proud of the “Team IFI” teams that have publicly stated they will be moving away from Vex.
While 3015 is not an IFI team, we are heavily invested in their ecosystem. The purpose of this thread is to create an opportunity to show anyone who might be looking, additional teams who are committed to phasing out of the IFI/Vex product line. Please only commit your team if you are the person responsible for making purchases and have the authority on your team to make this decision.
Team 3015 commits to phasing out of the IFI/Vex ecosystem and support companies who’s vision, ethics, and behavior align with our teams ideals and support companies we’d feel good about sending our students to work for in the future.
Team 3015 also commits to assisting other teams in avoiding the VEX product line. If you need a belt, motor, gear, pulley, etc, send me a DM and if we have it I’ll be happy to send it your way.
Team 271 is also committed to phasing out IFI/Vex and will assist other teams as we can too, whether that be belts, pullies etc, or if you need your own versa tube/gussets/etc created, just send a DM or contact me on any of the slack/discord channels I’m on. We have no problem sharing our machining resources including Mills, CNC Router, Markforges and lathes.
Edit: The one thing I can’t make a commitment to, at least at this point, is not buying more Falcons. While I believe we will be able to/try to make it through the season without buying more, I suspect there will be supply chain issues leaving us no choice.
WildStang and it’s associated programs have been in a slow divorce from Vex for a couple years now. While a member of Team IFI back in 2011/12, we left the group back in 2013. After a lukewarm season with the Falcons in 2020, we swapped over entirely to REV motors & controllers in 2022, and will not be going back.
We folded our internal VEX teams back in 2019. As of this year, we stopped hosting our VEX qualifying event in December, instead moving those efforts over to hosting a FLL tournament (1st one next month!)
Our open PO’s with Vex this year are about 30% or so of what they were just 3-4 years ago, much of that expenditure getting re-allocated to REV, AM, SDS and other COTS vendors. As of today, I have cancelled WSRP’s remaining PO’s with Vex and am asking our other district STEM programs (Battlebots, PLTW) to follow suit.
As a former IFI intern myself, I’m disheartened to see just how futile the efforts of those inside to fix the company were. Educational robotics should be one of the best places to work given how high reward the products’ potential impact is. It’s a shame that we’re at this point today.
Team 1551 is phasing out VEX; we’ll use current product but will not be ordering more without substantive changes to IFI leadership/ownership and culture.
Here’s a copy of the letter I wrote to our school district if anyone needs a reference for one of their own.
All,
I’m writing to you all to alert you to a developing story in the educational robotics world. Over the last couple of days, multiple reports of rampant sexual harassment, bullying, and predatory behavior have surfaced regarding one of the major educational robotics companies, Vex Robotics, also known as their parent company, Innovation First International (IFI). I will refrain from detailing some of the stories here, but you can read some of the firsthand testimony at the following links.
As a former intern at IFI myself (along with one other D214 alumni), I have no issues believing all this testimony to be true. I was recruited by a former WildStang mentor to work down there in the summers of 2013 and 2014. While at the time not as hostile as these stories detail, the environment was certainly trending in that direction. The company very much resembled a out of control college fraternity, misogyny casually ignored throughout the org chart. Much of this culture derives from the behavior of the ownership and other senior staff at the company. IFI is a privately held company, so external pressure is unlikely to have much movement on their internal policies.
Multiple high profile FRC teams that were directly sponsored by IFI have publicly terminated their relationships with the company. FRC teams 1678, 254, 1114, 2056, and 4613 have all dropped them in the last 48 hours. WildStang programs were sponsored by IFI back in 2011-12, but we separated before the 2013 season due to a unsustainable working arrangement with the WildStang mentors that worked there. We have had no formal relationship since then. We also decided to cease hosting out VEX qualifying tournament at RMHS last year, instead moving towards support for FIRST’s Lego League program at Lincoln Middle School this coming December.
So how does this affect D214? IFI products are heavily used in the FIRST Robotics and Battlebots communities. They also produce the official kits for the capstone PLTW classes. While my control is limited to the how WSRP money is spent, I would request that D214 re-evaluate any outgoing funds to IFI or its subsidiaries via the Battlebots and PLTW programs. I can’t in good faith assist this company in continuing a company culture that is so against many of WSRP’s core values, and I would hope that the broader D214 community would feel similar. While I do understand that PLTW curriculum is not dictated by D214 staff, we may be able to find many alternatives to these product lines to support these classes.
I am quite disappointed at the moment, but hopefully the education robotics world can move past this. Many competitors to VEX have begun to spring up over the last 5-10 years giving us many roads that lead away from STEM education’s reliance on IFI and their products. Here’s to hoping D214 can be a leader on this front.
Harrison Drake
Lead Technical Mentor
Team 111/112 WildStang Robotics Program
STEAMex 6832 and every member of the Global STEAM Community: STEAMLes 8136, STEAMBar 8191, STEAMCo 8752, STEAMBot 9107, STEAMec 9108, STEAMSur 9135, STEAMoros 9173 and STEAMBel 9244 will no longer be purchasing products from VEX. We, like others, will be phasing out our current VEX stock.
4990 is working to phase out our use of vex products and will no longer be spending any money with them or on vex products from associated resellers/product collaborators.
Team 2667 was already in process of decoupling from VEX products due to weird QC issues over many years (not with Falcons we own zero), and is now fully committed to no longer purchasing from VEX/IFI or associated resellers/products and will continue to phase out all current stock.
In light of recent events regarding IFI and VEX, we are joining other teams in ceasing all of our purchases from the company and we are looking to phase out any VEX products we may have. We fully support any teams or individuals who have been impacted by this issue. We will actively search for alternative products and resources in an effort to entirely move away from IFI/VEX.
FRC Team 9062: Critical Circuits from Hamilton, ON will no longer be investing in Vex or IFI product lines until further notice. We believe in education and equitable opportunity for all, and this has been demonstrated to not be in line with IFI’s ethics and morals at this time. We will use the remaining stock we have of Vex products, but will happily develop systems from suppliers that share our vision and ethics. We will be bringing this to the attention of every team we mentor, so they may make an informed decision for themselves.