VEX Robotics Competition
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| VEX Robotics Competition | |
|---|---|
| Name | VEX Robotics Competition |
| Established | 2005 |
| Organizer | VEX Robotics |
| Region | International |
| Participants | Middle School, High School, College |
VEX Robotics Competition
The VEX Robotics Competition is an international robotics tournament that engages students in FIRST Robotics Competition, RoboCup, World Robot Olympiad, BEST Robotics, Botball, FIRST Tech Challenge, SeaPerch, Intelitek, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society-supported events. Founded by Innovation First International founders and associated with REC Foundation, the program connects teams from United States, China, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Sweden, France, India, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Israel, Netherlands', Poland, Belgium, New Zealand, Russia and other nations through seasonal challenges, exhibitions, and regional qualifiers.
Overview
The competition pairs alliance-based match play with engineering design documentation, judged by panels from NASA, DARPA, National Science Foundation, IEEE, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Technologies, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Tesla, Inc., Siemens, Schneider Electric, Caterpillar Inc., ABB Group, Rockwell Automation, Honeywell, Emerson Electric Company, 3M Company, Intel Corporation, AMD, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Google, Amazon (company), Apple Inc., Facebook, Oracle Corporation, SAP SE, Accenture, Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG, McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup and Capital One representatives evaluating technical proficiency, project management, programming, and outreach.
History and Development
Development began in the early 2000s with contributions from Innovation First International engineers collaborating with educators from FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), Vassar College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, California Institute of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan, University of Texas at Austin, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Purdue University, Cornell University, Princeton University, Yale University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, University of Southern California, Rice University, Duke University, University of Washington, University of California, San Diego, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of British Columbia, University of Toronto, McGill University, Imperial College London, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, ETH Zurich, Tsinghua University, Peking University, and educational networks like National Science Teachers Association to create scalable hardware, control systems, and curricula. Milestones include the release of standardized kits, adoption by school districts, expansion to international leagues, and integration of sensors and programming environments tied to Python (programming language), C++, ROS (Robot Operating System), Arduino, Raspberry Pi, VEXcode, Blockly, and LabVIEW.
Competition Structure and Game Seasons
Seasons run annually with a new game announced at events comparable to FIRST Championship, RoboCup Finals, WorldSkills Competition, International Collegiate Programming Contest, Google Code Jam, DEF CON CTF, Maker Faire, Consumer Electronics Show, SXSW, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, IROS, SIGGRAPH, Dragon Con, TED Conference, and World Robot Olympiad showcases. Game elements follow themes similar to challenges in DARPA Robotics Challenge, NASA Robotic Mining Competition, Shell Eco-marathon, RoboGames, Eurobot, VEX U, VEX IQ Challenge, and High School Robotics League formats, incorporating autonomous periods and driver-controlled phases judged by scoring, fouls, and timekeeping protocols used at Olympic Games-style tournament brackets. Regional tournaments lead to national and world championships with match schedules, alliance selections, and playoff formats inspired by collegiate and professional sporting tournaments like the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, UEFA Champions League, FIFA World Cup, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup Playoffs, and NBA Playoffs.
Robot Design and Engineering Rules
Robots must conform to sizing, weight, power, and safety rules enforced by technical inspectors from partner institutions including Underwriters Laboratories, American National Standards Institute, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, ASTM International, ISO, IEEE Standards Association, CENELEC, SAE International, Federal Aviation Administration, European Space Agency, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, MITRE Corporation, RAND Corporation, SRI International, Battelle Memorial Institute, Honeywell Aerospace, and corporate sponsors. Construction uses commercially available components, chassis kits, actuators, gearboxes, motors, sensors, and controllers from vendors like VEX Robotics, REV Robotics, AndyMark, FIRST Choice, Tetrix, Tetrix PRIZM, Pololu, Talon (motor controller), Victor (robotics), Falcon 500, CIM motor, Pneumatics Systems, BaneBots, Banebots, Spark (motor controller), Raspberry Pi, Arduino Uno, Microsoft Kinect, Lidar, IMU, Encoders, Limit switch, and battery management guidance based on standards from IEEE 1625, IEC norms. Documentation must include design notebooks and CAD models referencing tools like SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor, Onshape, Fusion 360, FreeCAD, and simulation via Gazebo (simulator), MATLAB, Simulink, ROS.
Tournament Levels and Ranking System
Event hierarchy includes local qualifiers, regional events, state championships, national championships, and world championships, using ranking point systems analogous to those in Formula One, NASCAR, Major League Soccer, English Football League, ATP Tour, WTA Tour, Olympic Games qualification systems, and collegiate conference standings such as those in the Big Ten Conference, Pac-12 Conference, Ivy League, SEC (Southeastern Conference), ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference), National Collegiate Athletic Association, National Junior College Athletic Association, NAIA brackets. Rankings derive from match wins, autonomous scores, alliance selections, and judged awards, with tie-breakers similar to FIFA World Ranking and UEFA coefficient procedures.
Awards and Recognition
Awards span judged categories like Excellence, Design, Programming, Tournament Champion, Robot Skills, and Think awards influenced by honors from National Science Foundation grants, Intel Science Talent Search, Siemens Competition, Google Science Fair, Regeneron Science Talent Search, Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, Young Inventor Awards, MacArthur Fellowship-style recognition, and corporate scholarships from Microsoft Philanthropies, Google.org, Amazon Future Engineer, Facebook Fellowship Program, Intel Corporation and university scholarship partnerships with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Tech, University of Michigan, Purdue University, Cornell University, University of California, Berkeley, California Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, ETH Zurich, Tsinghua University, Peking University, University of Toronto, and McGill University.
Impact and Outreach Programs
Outreach links teams to STEM pipeline initiatives run by National Science Foundation, Department of Education (United States), UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Wellcome Trust, Gates Cambridge Scholarship, Marshall Scholarship, Rhodes Scholarship, Fulbright Program, AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, Teach For America, FIRST Global Challenge, Girls Who Code, Code.org, Black Girls CODE, Society of Women Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers, Latino STEM Alliance, American Society for Engineering Education, STEM Scouts, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, Science Museum (London), Smithsonian Institution, Exploratorium, TechShop, MakerBot, Adafruit Industries, SparkFun Electronics, and university outreach labs, promoting careers at NASA, European Space Agency, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon Technologies, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Tesla, Inc., Siemens, IBM, Google (company), Microsoft Corporation, Amazon (company), Facebook, Intel Corporation, NVIDIA, AMD, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, and research opportunities at leading institutions.