Does anyone have any advise that they would like to share with teams on their Vex World Championship appearance.
Here you go, a document that was started before VEX was born, and is still updated regularly: http://www.roboticseducation.org/documents/2013/06/101-things.pdf
Have everything ready before you get there. If you are rebuilding be done two weeks or more before worlds for driver practice and programming.
ENJOY your first steps into the whole thing past the initial registration! Then talk to as many teams at their tables. Take lots of pics! Talk to all the foreign teams you can.
Oh… take a small dry erase board for those who do not speak your language. Communicate through drawing.
Enjoy!!!
Thoroughly check the bot after you arrive. Lot’s of stuff could happen on the way there.
I’ll add this to the 101 Things – go through Inspection the first thing after you check-in, even before you find your pit space. The Inspection line can get long fast.
Worlds is really a unique event. Talk to everyone, be positive and take it all in. Everyone there is united for one purpose and In the spirit of friendly competition. You can go to anyone there and strike up a conversation. Worlds is one of the greatest places I’ve ever been and one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. When you get there, explore. Take in as much of it as possible because you never know if this time is also going to be your last time. That is my advice to you.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Don’t sweat any losses your team takes—you’re competing with literally the best teams in the world. Like everyone else says, the event is a blast, so let yourself have a good time with it.
Oh, and one thing that I learned last year is that when there’s an event in Freedom Hall, you’ll want to get there as early as possible. Seats fill up real quickly.
I’ll cover the inspection portion.
Be prepared for inspection. The inspectors will be thorough and test your motor circuit breakers, Cortex breakers and firmware. Make sure you have the latest firmware or they will update you on the spot. Have backups of your code, 9v backup battery, primary batteries charged and controller ready to go.
You will not get a pass if it’s not 100%.
The line can get long so be prepared to wait. It helps if you have a way to communicate with your team. One can wait in line while others tour the exhibits switching occasionally.
Enjoy the experience and good luck.
And it’s a steep climb near the top of the arena.
It’s nice to bring items to hand out/swap with other teams especially the Global ones (getting treats from the Bahrain team was awesome two years ago). If you can elevate your field to practice on then do it as the competition fields will all be elevated. Seating in Divisions also fill up fast as well so be prepared. My biggest piece of advice is to bring a way to transport your robot to and from the pit area. Your team *might(1 in 5 chance) get lucky and have its Pit area next to your division field, or you could have to walk the entire building to get to your matches. Carying a 15 to 20 lb. robot that far wouldn’t be fun and driving it *shouldn’t (not sure if it’s enforced) be allowed for safety reasons. Don’t forget your safety glasses as well, and don’t spend too much time looking at the game for next year on Saturday :).
This will be my third year a Worlds, so this would be my advice for any new teams:
- Your team member will probably split up to scout, play matches, do judging interviews, and everything else that it takes to compete in a VEX robotics competition. The venue is huge. Phones were created for a reason. Keep them on and use them.
- The inspection line, as several others mentioned, will be very long. If possible, have the drive team or part of the drive team go to inspection while other team members get the pits ready.
- Something, at some point, will go wrong- probably even for the winners. Bring extra parts and be ready to change anything if needed after a match.
- Don’t be afraid to ask more experienced teams for help.
- Enjoy yourself! Have fun. You’re competing with the best teams in the world. Enjoy it.
My team has some questions one of them is if we have prescription glasses do we have to wear safety glasses/ side shields or can we just wear our glasses? Also is the venue going to have wifi for the guests.
Usually glasses work fine on there own. Last year there wasn’t wifi so I wouldn’t expect it. With all the vexnet frequencies it would only make the situation worse.