New Team Starting Resources

Inspired by @Micahy321 's comment to this post, and a few other helpful recommendations regarding content (thank you to @J.4 ), I’ve put together a list of resources for new teams:

But first of all, what are the team roles, and who should know what?

Well, usually there are 4 main roles in a team:

  • Builder/Designer: They design and build the robot. Usually other teammates assist the builder to construct the robot. They need to know all the hardware, their uses, and overall robot design “philosophy” (for lack of a better word). FUN robot explanation videos are a good resource, and the Sigbots wiki below is a must read for them. However, there are plenty of resources out there for you.
  • Coder: Codes the robot. There are 3 languages for coding: blocks, Python, and C++. Usually works with the builder for sensor placements.
  • Driver: Drives the robot during matches. Usually acts as an assistant builder while the robot is still being constructed. Not many resources out there, as driving is usually a skill-based thing. Practice is everything for you. A good, well-trained driver and a simple bot is always better than an inexperienced, untrained driver with a “jack-of-all-trades” robot.
  • Notebooker: Documents everything in the Engineering Notebook. You earn the judges’ awards for the team, which is one of the main ways your team advances through tournaments or qualifies to worlds. Not too many resources, but has a good discord community to help you.

General Stuff
https://wiki.purduesigbots.com (MUST READ!!! Contains almost everything about VEX)
VEX Robotics Competition (Vex teams of the world discord)
New Team Guide to VRC v2.0
New Team Guide To VRC ((both above are short in-a-nutshell guides. Ignore the challenge stuff as it changes every year, and this one is 2-3 years out of date)


The Game
*This updates every year. These two resources are for the 2024-2025 V5RC season High Stakes
V5RC High Stakes Game Manual - VEX Robotics (game manual, Very important that you read. Almost any questions regarding legality can be found here)
Q&A: VEX V5 Robotics Competition 2024-2025: High Stakes : Robot Events (Q&A, another must read, has important game manual clarifications
https://youtu.be/Sx6HJSpopeQ?si=0CLQ5ueWgu0958Oj (game reveal video, though some things have changed since then)


Building tips
https://wiki.purduesigbots.com/ (most of anything you need is here)
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYZlZ-HVwqm55HqWzljG4LLnPStByCmfI&si=5NxBb7mmzE4M-PXa (build tips)
https://youtu.be/K218QdJ-IAs?si=eJ0LH654xN8aeynr (build tutorial)


Coding (Thank you to @J.4 for your help)
Get Started: https://coding.vex.com/
And the VEX API: https://api.vex.com,
Python Documentation,
And some C++ Materials

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPNtuCGtJi5LlS0tt2SF28JBSQteKViKO&si=dk4aHoMhmwWJC0cG (coding introduction)
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSnZY5SL-Y5Nqwi6SHr9R0Z4DCeZzzlH2&si=zX77PAxFIBqlzIFL (another basic coding tutorial)


Notebooking (Thank you to @J.4 for your help, how could I forget the guide to judging :man_facepalming: )
Guide to Judging: https://kb.roboticseducation.org/hc/en-us/articles/4969763478167-Guide-to-Judging-Judging-Engineering-Notebooks (This, the rubric below, and the More Advanced Guide are must reads for notebookers. They are like the game manual for you)
The Rubric: https://kb.roboticseducation.org/hc/en-us/articles/4461349729047-Judging-Resource-Engineering-Notebook-Rubric
More Advanced Guide to Judging and Awards: https://kb.roboticseducation.org/hc/en-us/article_attachments/25758161311383
Get Started: https://kb.roboticseducation.org/hc/en-us/articles/8374007847575-Get-Started-Notebooking
New engineering notebook tutorials (notebook tutorial)
Robot Notebookers (notebooking discord)

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VEX Templates, Operating Systems, and Languages

PROS Documentation: https://pros.cs.purdue.edu/
VexIde (VEX in Rust): https://vexide.dev/
LemLib Template: GitHub - LemLib/LemLib: An easy to use and feature-rich PROS template for the Vex V5
Okapilib: OkapiLib Index Page | OkapiLib A PROS library for programming VEX robots
EZ-Template Docs: EZ-Template | EZ-Template
JAR-Template: GitHub - JacksonAreaRobotics/JAR-Template: A simple and powerful VEXcode library featuring PID, odometry, and custom motion algorithms.


VEX Resources

RobotEvents: https://www.robotevents.com/
VEX Website: https://www.vexrobotics.com/
REC Foundation: https://recf.org
VexForum: https://vexforum.com
Q&A: Q&A: VEX V5 Robotics Competition 2024-2025: High Stakes : Robot Events


Path Planning

TaoLib: https://taolib.vercel.app/
Path.Jerryio: https://path.jerryio.com/


Computer-Aided Design (CAD)

Protobot: https://protobot.web.app/
Onshape: Onshape | Product Development Platform
Inventor Autodesk: Autodesk Inventor Software | Get Prices & Buy Official Inventor 2025
Fusion360: Autodesk Fusion | Free Software for Students and Educators | Autodesk
Solidworks: https://www.solidworks.com/
Blender: https://www.blender.org/
TinkerCAD: https://www.tinkercad.com/
Solid Edge: Solid Edge Student Edition

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Just curious…
Why is tinkerCAD here?

(Other than that, great addition! This post should have more likes)

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I use it to 3d print out decorations for my robot and team and TinkerCAD is very easy to use and it is one of the best programs to use if you are new to 3d printing and designing.

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