Hello, I am a college student and I am currently trying to start a Vex U at my school. Right now its looking great, we have an advisor and around 11 students (but I anticipate getting more!) I was wondering what the expenses would look like so when I propose the idea to the school they can give us an accurate budget. Is there anything else I should know or begin to prepare for? Thanks in advance!
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The upfront cost for starting a vex team in general is pretty high. I think the electronics kit is about $500 for all your electronics and 4 motors. You’ll probably want to buy more motors so itll probably be about another $120 for 4 more motors. Now, you need materials, wheels, gears, screws, tools, spacers, and etc. Since you’re vex U, you can be a lot more flexible. If i had to guess , maybe $1500 to $3000? This is my guess, so take this with a grain of salt. Further research could get you an accurate estimate. Competitions also cost money.
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That may have been the price in the past, but as of recent price hikes, the V5 system bundle is now $700 (and out of stock).
Overall the difficulty with VEXU is that you need to build 2 robots, so your costs are going to be more than double that of a typical high school team (as VEXU teams generally use more motors, etc.)
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Ah, I did not know that. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I haven’t checked in quite a while.
I would estimate it in the $4000-$6000 range just for parts. I had started an independent VexU team this season and I was a former HS independent team so I already had a large collection of parts and probably have dumped about $3000-$4000 more this season on the $3000 of parts I already had. You also have to factor in travel to events and if you choose to fly adds up very quickly. Most VexU team budgets mostly go into comp fees and travel.
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Advisor + 11 students…wow, you’re off to a great start. I sent you a DM with my contact information, we can chat about U-team costs via email if you wish.
I’m thinking it’s a bit late this year to enter competition, but you’d be in a great position for the next season, which essentially starts the end of April with the new game release. Second problem would be getting equipment, as everything you need is on backorder.
Quickest “ballpark numbers” to get a basic U-team started, for the purpose of submitting a budget, would be this:
as a minimum: two competition superkits, $1900 each, $3800 total (you can, of course, reuse parts)
Many will argue against superkits, opting for individual parts; however as a startup, the superkits are pretty handy.
If you can’t work with an existing local team, you’ll want: competition field and tiles (for practice, etc): $1,050 and next season’s game elements: $500
Registrations, tools, supplies, plan another $2000. If you hit the vexpro line, as many teams do, you’ll use another $1000 in parts as you upgrade to bearing, metal chain/sprockets, and versachassis.
Can you use your college’s machine shop? Otherwise, you’ll be adding more for some power tools.
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Don’t forget 3D printers! Last year we barely bought any new parts, and just 3D printed whatever we could. We used esun’s pla+ which is $30ish per kg. 3D printing parts for vex bots can take some time to figure out, but it allows for much more compact designs.
In terms of costs this year I believe our team has spent just under 2.5k, but that’ll go up with travel costs for competitions and the increased worlds registration fee
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