This is more of a humor thing but still… We were opening up a box of parts we just ordered from VEX and we happened to see the back of the boxes.
They all say 14+ how are middle school teams supposed to exist if the minimum age for using VEX parts is 14?
One of our middle school members is 13.
We issue all our kids fake ID’s. 
When I got my first Vex Kits… My Youngest Daughter was 8, and my Son was 6…
After letting them looking over how I assembled the Square Bot, and let them each assemble their own Robot from Scratch, I showed them the Box, and told them they could add 10 years to their age…
Last Year, my son took a partially assembled Square Bot, added a Custom Arm, and make a Remote Controlled Cat Toy, for a Science Project.
He got an A… He was 10 almost 11 at that time…
We have a 13-year-old on our team, too. He’s not allowed to touch the robot or the metal.
In my county middle schoolers have far better robots then most of the high schools do
It’s probably more of a “please don’t sue us.” kind of thing. Though I do admit, I do find it quite humorous.
My team honestly doesn’t care about the age requirements we just build even if it says that you have to be 14+.
It’s a little bit unfortunate that Vex has to put this stuff on their packaging to avoid being sued, because I think it’s misleading and unnecessary. Under the circumstances though I think it’s fair enough.
What’s really sad is that your school then feels that they have to enforce that so that they don’t get sued if someone gets injured while using “14+” equipment.
The whole situation with Americans and suing people is just silly :rolleyes:.
I assume that’s why your school does it, and not because you have some silly teacher who likes to make up arbitrary rules. If anything that would be worse.
Lol it’s a joke. Of course he has to touch something, otherwise why would he be in the robotics club? I would have left and made my own team if I couldn’t do anything. But seriously a 13 year old in high school? Lol most people in high school are at least 14.
Anyways, middle school teams are probably closely watched by their parents or a teacher when they are building their robot so they don’t get sued so it’s alright.
Lol us americans are weird. Suing people left and right.
I really don’t think it is about Being Sued for Vex being a Dangerous Hobby, it is about listing a typical, age appropriate Knowledge Level… 14+ is a Good Age for understand ALL the features of the Vex Robotics System…
For Instance, the Game Monopoly…
The Manufacture lists:
“For 2 to 8 players. Ages 8 and up.”
But on Answers.com, an Expanded Explanation given for the Question:
“What age range can play monopoly?”
Was:
“Anyone old enough to understand the concept of strategy and basic arithmetic can play monopoly. I would say about 7 years and up, maybe younger.”.
My Son still does not quite understand the Aspects of Programming the Vex, but at 6, he understood Bolting a Vex together, even if some of his Keeps Nuts weren’t quite tight… For that matter, some of my Keeps Nuts are quite tight either… 
I just taught my Youngest Daughter how to Count is Binary and Octal and Hex… Then on her own, she started to build Letter Codes, based on Binary Numbers, using 36 Numbers. That was before I showed here ASCII… I admire her initiative…
Lol I was joking. Our school doesn’t dictate the rules on our team, since our club is run mostly by our parents and by MSU. The 13-year-old built part of our intake.
They are lying to u. They are making sure that u r paying attention and if u guys are mature enough to use these kind of materials for ur robot
Our school is a combined middle and high school so we have 7th-12th graders on our team.
Ah, middle school…
Elevation, clean sweep…
If I had known I had to be mature to use these parts, I’d have never joined in the first place.
Now, Round up and gateway have taught me that sometimes one has to be immature to use them properly.
Forbidden fruit is always sweeter. A higher age range makes it “cooler” to the younger kids (after all, the median age of a High School Musical fan was probably about 10).
LOL! … i am 16, but i know about 20 people who are 13 who use vex … i wonder where the school stands on this …?