Does this mean there will be no partner programming solutions available for V2 IQ brain? If so, that is extremely disappointing; could you expand on why this is the case?
Thank you for confirmation of this.
In that case, would it be possible for VEXcode IQ (and VEXcode V5 for that matter) to have an option to save the project in an industry standard format as VEXcode Pro does, rather than a proprietary format? This way, programming tools like Git will be able to work properly with the new IQ system as they did with programming solutions for the V1 brain like RobotC.
Disappointing, but understandable. I do imagine it will be difficult for teams who have been using RobotC to suddenly switch in the middle of the season to VEXcode in order to gain access tot he new sensors on their V1 brains.
Will there be an updated 3rd party SDK provided to partners so they can add support for the new sensors on V1 IQ?
From that list, it seems like the Gen 2 battery only provides a competitive advantage if one of the Gen 1 batteries isn’t getting you through a whole match before the voltage drops too low to run all your motors at full power.
I’m not sure how many VIQC teams have trouble getting through a match on a battery charge, but considering that IQ matches are only 1 minute long, and I’ve gotten battery life of multiple hours out of IQ robots before (not running them as hard as competition robots, but still), I would be surprised if that’s a problem many VIQC teams are facing.
I see the Gen 2 battery as being particularly useful in classroom and camp settings, where it’s much more common to have only 1 battery per robot. If I can get through a full day of camp on a single battery charge, that’s much more convenient than having to charge batteries twice a day as they go dead.
You have asked a lot of good questions about Batteries and Motors.
The IQ 2nd generation battery is Lithium Ion, not Lithium Iron Phosphate as is used in V5. The nominal voltage of a Li-ion battery varies with different manufacturers and battery models, since it relates to the exact voltage at 50% capacity. Some are 3.6v, 3.65, and 3.7v.
Your question about "Do IQ smart motors regulate their voltage in the same manner that V5 " is the more important questions. Yes. The IQ motor regulates the maximum output to the motor to 7.0v no battery what the voltage of the battery is. So as long as the battery is at or above 7.0v the motors all perform in the same exact way putting out the same power. When a battery drops below 7v the motor does everything it can to match performance, however, output power and stall torque start to reduce.
Finally, the Yes and No battery answer is valid. Yes if you push your power consumption very hard for the full minute. No if your robot is efficient and avoids stalling motors as much as possible.
For my personal interest, is there anything you do like about the 2nd generation of VEX IQ?
Great, that helps a lot with my understanding here. Sounds like this will make sure there is a level playing field between the V1 and V2 batteries.
Absolutely, otherwise I wouldn’t be so interested in getting information about the new system.
Color screen is great
6 axis improved IMU being built right into the brain is an awesome addition, especially for the price.
Integrated radios makes a lot of sense vs radio chips that can easily be lost
Additional inputs on the controller is always good.
Always love to see Li-Ion batteries replacing NiMH. Stable voltage and much larger useable capacity are extremely useful in the context of education and competitive robotics.
Glad to see laser rangefinders being added, this was one sensor the mindstorms system has had for a while now and I’m glad to see IQ get it.
Overall it seems like a solid step forward. My concerns come from the perspective of someone who is assisting in mentoring 4 VEXIQ teams, 3 which are new this year (w/ new V1 kits purchased), and all of whom use Robot Mesh Studio as their programming solution. My questions are intended to be constructive, with the hope of gaining more insight into the new system both for myself and for the community as a whole. There is also a sense of urgency, because pre orders were opened on the same day as the new system was unveiled so if my teams are to upgrade then we need to pre-order ASAP.
Well the cost of integrated components is you can’t easily swap components. The V1 IQ brain had a standard 2.4 ghz controller radio that could be swapped if broken or swapped with higher throughput bluetooth radios.
Edit: But there is a cost to every piece of modularity you build into a system, it is almost never going to be as cheap, as small as a fully integrated system.
Although, I am a little sad about no longer being able to use ROBOTC. I always thought it was just a real nice language, simple and to the point, with none of the fancy stuff that comes with vexcode that people come to rely on.
I assume that the gen 2 will be legal for competition? And Gen 1 will continue to be legal for competitions?
Same situation. I’m mentoring two new IQ teams this year and we just a couple of weeks ago purchased two competition kits fresh from the vex website. Pretty unfortunate timing.
This would be extremely helpful if it existed since our entire budget came from sign-up fees and we can’t afford new kits.
It’s almost annoying that in order to get that slight advantage, you have to buy completely new electronics. I know there really isn’t a good way around that, but it feels like this is only helpful for brand new teams buying stuff for the first time (unfortunately just barely missing that window in my case), and teams that can afford to replace their old stuff. Otherwise, it’s just unhelpful for teams in my situation.
It is reassuring to read that they won’t really provide many noticeable advantages (especially since my teams are new and probably won’t be creating enough code to slow down the brain at all).
This is exciting, we might have to do a little fundraising to buy a couple of standalone gen2 batteries since it seems like they are the most noticeable upgrade in functionality with the new system.
Edit: And honestly, for people who will be replacing their kits, this kind of feels like upgrading from an iPhone 11 to an iPhone 12, except with no trade-in value.
you probably only need to get new batteries because the new controllers and brains are basically the same. And the motors are the same
my club also bought a insane amount of super kits a month or so before this because we have a lot of new teams this season and they’re just getting the new batteries and sensors.
the competition kits have a lot of new parts now so that too maybe
sensors
you probably wont need the new sensors either just use encoder pid
On that note, I am curious as to how much this change actually affects gameplay, or if it is mostly just more user-friendly. Because going by the numbers, it is more like going from an iPhone 5 to an iPhone 12, but I’m curious if my original comparison holds up better in the context of how it affects a robot in a competitive environment.
It’s not going to make a student a better driver. or a better robot builder. Driving around a 6 motor robot using either generation brain and controller will be the same for the vast majority of students.
The generation 1 IQ brain, despite having limited resources, could do some cool things, it’s always been a fun system and that will not change.
Will the overall experience of using the generation 2 brain be better ? Well I hope so, no more “I2C error detected on motor port 9-12” please reboot messages, better sensor dashboards, logging of errors in a similar way to the V5, many other small UI improvements. It’s better in a similar way that a 2021 car may be better than a 2011 car, still gets you from A to B but has the benefits of being 10 years newer.
The comparison page lists “wireless downloading” as a feature of the Gen 2 controller. Does this work the same way as wireless downloading with the V5 controller (i.e., connect the controller to a computer via USB and download code over the robot-to-controller link)?
Will printing to the console over the wireless link be supported like it is with V5?
Will the Gen 2 controller support wireless downloading when connected to the Gen 1 brain?
Those of us with 20 - gen 1 Kits would much rather buy individual brain/controllers, than buy full kits. I can’t afford 20 full kits, but could swing 5-10 brain/controllers. This needs to happen very soon PLEASE!
