Starting A Team
Starting A Team
The goal of a VEX Robotics team is to facilitate teamwork and STEM experiences for students.
It is vital to establish a clear goal before starting a team—and to keep it in mind throughout the process. While your goal will not stay the same forever, it can provide direction by establishing a definition for success.
As a coach, you do not have to do everything. The most successful programs I have seen are designed around equipping students. A coach can look at the big picture and point team members down the right path. When you give your students ownership in the program, they will be more inclined to invest their effort in it. With responsibility in their hands, students start to learn on their own.
Additionally, it is important to note that coaches are not allowed to work on the team’s robot, notebook, or program. Rather, coaches provide more general support and advice. (See Tipping Point Rule <G2> for further clarification. Page 20 of the Game Manual)The day-to-day tasks of the my old team are fully managed by team members. The coach helps provide direction and works with administrative details.
The goal is not to win. We want students to have hands-on experiences. When I think back on my time in robotics, I think about how it inspired a passion for engineering. I rarely think about what matches I won or lost. One of my coaches created this environment by encouraging us to build a robot that could complete the challenge. Any drive to win came from the students.
The most important part of structuring a team is fostering a positive culture. Team members should feel comfortable contributing. Everyone’s voice should be heard. Schools register more than one robot each season. It is vital to maintain school unity even when robots from the same school might go head-to-head. There is not step-by-step process to achieve this. However, it is good to keep team culture in mind and periodically intervene to maintain it.
When constructing a roster, try to mix students of different experience levels. On each robot, I ensure that there are several students with building and programming leanings. This inspires collaboration and helps set them up for success. I typically assign a programming head and a building head. These two students are responsible for managing their respective areas and ensuring that team works together. A coach can help the team heads build leadership skills and work with their team.
Typically, my teams have approximately 5-10 people per robot. This is a general rule. If I don’t have enough resources, I have had more than 10 students per robot, but it is not ideal.
In a match, robots are randomly paired with an alliance partner
While VEX games follow a predictable pattern, it is important to know the specifics of the rules. I require every student to read the rules each year. There are always small details that can be easily missed.
Here are a few additional references for your team:
Tipping Point Game Manual – This is the official rulebook for the current competition. Be sure to check for a new one each year.
Referee Training Videos – While these videos were designed to teach competition staff, VEX recommends that students and coaches watch them as well. These videos are an excellent way to get an overview of the rules. The referee training videos will release later in the season
VEX Forum – The forum is a great place to ask questions about the competition. In some cases, the rules are modified or clarified through student feedback on the forum. It is important to note that the VEX Forum is public and not every member knows what they are talking about.
Of the six awards given at a typical tournament, three require the engineering notebook. It is vital for students to keep up with their engineering documentation. In the real world, engineers use notebooks to document their design for patent purposes.
The exact requirements for each award are spelled out in the Judges Guide. The rubrics in this guide are especially helpful when creating the engineering notebook. I print out a copy of the rubric and put it with the team’s notebook. Every time a student adds to the notebook, they can look at the expectations.
Here are a few additional references for your team:
Nathan’s Engineering Notebook Guide – This is my comprehensive breakdown of the Judges guide requirements. When I competed in VEX, I used the strategies in this document to make award-winning notebooks.
The Judges Guide - This is the Judge’s guide for the Tipping Point Competition. It contains the rubrics and judging tactics for. Make sure to check for an updated one each season.
For a new team, building can be a bit tricky at first. From a big-picture standpoint, it is important to allow plenty of time for troubleshooting and testing. Testing lets students see what will work. As a coach, you should encourage students to test their robot and leave time for driver and programming practice.
Simplicity is key. Mechanisms with fewer components tend to have fewer issues. It is best to use larger components for the core structure of a robot and to avoid overly complex features.
Looking at designs online is a great way to get ideas and refine the brainstorming process. (Students need to cite outside references in their engineering notebook.) In a season, there are typically a few designs that rise to the top of the competition.
Here are a few additional references for your team:
YouTube Reveal Videos – When I built VEX robots, I would frequently check out what other teams were doing. This helped me get ideas and learn best-practices for building. Reveal videos can be found by searching for “[competition name] reveal” on YouTube.
Previous game matches – Sometimes a current VEX game is similar to a previous one. Early in the build season, I often point teams to check out previous competitions to get general mechanism ideas.
VEX has several different programming interfaces for V5 equipment. (Additionally, there are several third parties that have created their own setup.) For a new team, I would recommend using VEXcode V5 Text if your team has a programming background. While text-based programming can be intimidating at first, it is a valuable skill for students to learn. VEXcode is based on custom C++ libraries. The specific commands are not used outside of VEX, but there is incredible value to learning C++ syntax. Now that V5 has been out for several years, there is a decent amount of online resources for VEXcode. As students learn, they can use more and more of the software’s potential.
If the text-based setup is not working for your team, VEX also provides a block-coding interface. This software is compatible with Chromebooks as well.
Here are a few additional references for your team:
VEXcode has example programs located under File > Open Tutorials.
Click the question mark in the upper right corner of VEXcode and select the “Command Reference” tab for a list of some commonly used commands in the software.
Here is the online documentation for VEXcode.
The VEX forum can also be used for programming questions. However, it is important to note that not everyone on the platform knows what they are talking about.
VEX Robotics has a lot of product lines that span numerous age groups. It is important to know how to differentiate between them.
VEX IQ is the elementary/middle school level. IQ parts are plastic and have Lego-like features
VEX EDR is the middle school and high school product line. This is what your students will use for the competition.
VEX V5 is a subset of EDR with the new electronic setup
VEX Cortex is a dated version of EDR. The cortex and its motors are no longer allowed in the competition. (The cortex system is sometimes referred to as the “Legacy” components.)
VEX Pro is a higher-level of electronics and hardware designed primarily for the First FRC competition. A small number of these components are allowed in the competition—as specified in the rules.