All,
While we always appreciate product feedback and ideas, and while we know its been a while since we’ve come out with something new for VEX: I’m surprised by some of the statements being made in this thread.
One major comment:
We need to be very careful about any new products being released. We are always looking at the tradeoffs that come from “additional features” bringing “additional complexity” to the VEX build experience, and “additional overhead” to teachers who want things to stay as simple as possible.
We know that there are advanced VEX users who want the features described in this thread. We also know that for every one of those users there is one (or more) who don’t want the added complexity introduced to the VEX system or competition.
At a certain point, we need to remember who we are. Should we make a shift to 100 lb robots which are made from custom machined components? Heck no. That would alienate the vast majority of our exiting users. It is easy to see how that drastic a change would cause problems. Now, a lot of the things being discussed here wouldn’t result in that much of an impact, but they would be a shift in that same direction. We’re just trying to watch how much things shift.
That said… of course, we know there are some opportunities to add things that don’t “break” the balance we have right now (and a lot of the great ideas in this thread fall into that category). Feel free to pile on the suggestions.
One of the mentors of the 1200 teams approached someone from VEX about these at VWC last season and was told that VEX has looked at them in the past, but it didn’t make good business sense to offer them as a product if I remember correctly.
I believe he also showed his battery-to-motor prototyping wire to the VEX representative he talked to as well. The wire had a 7.2v battery connector on one end and a 2-wire connector on the other end. The wire’s purpose is testing motorized mechanisms without the need of a cortex or program. I think this would be a nice little tool to have, especially early on in the season.
I’d also like to see VEX sell pneumatics similarly to how they do the VEXpro gearboxes. So instead of buying the 2 or 2A kit you would buy a pneumatics kit tailored to your needs. If VEX did this teams would be able to buy what they need from VEX rather than buying what they can get and finding the rest through SMC directly or other vendors.
A way to strengthen axles would be nice too. Currently I take a number of shaft couplers with 1/2" shafts between them and crudely press the couplers into drilled out nylon spacers to hold them together in high torque applications, but this method is limited to transferring torque over distances in increments of 0.5300" due to the size of the couplers. If VEX offered a variety pack of hollow shaft couplers similar to the nylon spacers (sizes of 1/8", 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2") or a single size of 2.5" or 3" that could be cut to size, the same task can be accomplished with fewer parts and can be used in more situations.
One way my mentor suggested to strengthen my axles is by putting multiple high strength metal 12 tooth gears along the axle where needed. Of course, there are tradeoffs, since the 12 tooth gears can get pretty heavy if you use them in excess.
Thank you so much for your openness to suggestions. There is no doubt that you have a much better feel for what the balance is. The purpose of the thread is to help provide some ideas. The VEX Design System is a fantastic classroom tool! But as the VEX Competition grows, it will naturally become more competitive at the top and there will be a demand for a wider array of products.
A new controller design takes a tremendous amount of R&D and at least 1 year lead time at best.
The seniors who have spent 4 years on the team have never seen a new controller design. I am just pushing it so the freshmen I have this year will see a new controller before they graduate.
IFI is the best in the business at designing competitive robotics controllers, dating back to when they replaced the clear sandwich box controller you had to return back to FIRST each year. I have no doubt when the Cortex lands on the replacement cycle, the next generation will truly ROCK!
If there was one thing I would like, it’s the opportunity to buy specific components individually. It can be kind of frustrating to have to buy entire kits for two components that you actually need. (Gears, sprockets, linear slide trucks.)
That being said, I understand the idea of ‘less SKUs is better’ for teachers. But for some of these products, aren’t they geared towards more advanced users outside of classrooms anyways?
So what features would you like to see in a new controller? Why do you think we need a new controller? I’ve thought about this quite a bit, but before offering my opinion I would like to hear what others think.
I started coming up with a list of features that I think it should have and then realized I was basically describing the hardware of the WiiU :rolleyes:
This isn’t a matter of “less SKUs is better for teachers” – I don’t think that blanket statement is accurate at all. I know our customers would want us to sell every individual item by itself in packs of 1 – however it doesn’t make business sense for us to do this. We will add individual bundle packs where we think it is appropriate. However, this is based on many factors (some of which are not always apparent to everyone).
I believe the main motivation for some of the comments here was the unveiling at the world championship not being pertinent to any of the people actually there. It was a great unveiling of what I imagine to be a great Parts line but it wasn’t that helpful to us. And then we see a big unveiling for FRC parts and it just seems like Vex is leaving its main customer base for other pursuits.
If the VEX IQ unveiling was done online I would have watched it just like I watched the FRC unveiling. Why was that done at worlds?
I was more trying to get at it can be frustrating to have to buy an entirely new Linear Motion Kit (for example,) because the mounting holes on the plastic trucks are worn out. I was more suggesting having replacement kits for parts known to wear out or need replacing over time.
Fair enough about the SKUs - this is a business and you have to make money in order to supply these parts in the first place.
Is one of those factors the cost of shipping? I can totally understand that - shipping from China is expensive.
Thanks for keeping up with the threads, as always.
I have several variations on tank drive (one where everything is tank drive, one where the (scissor) lift is tank drive, and one where the drive alone is tank), a few non-competition modes (partner joystick controls the right side of the robot, regular one controls the left side, DanceMode where each button makes the robot do a different danc-y thing, etc.), and my favorite, Sharing Mode where one controller can give functionality to the other (press the top button to take control of the scissor lift, bottom to give it to the other controller). We find that most of these are hard to keep track of so we only really play around with them. Our normal competition mode is my partner using the main controller with normal functionality and me using the partner controller with tank drive capabilities for everything (lift, drive, intake).
The switches would be useful so as to know which mode you are on. It would suck to be on DanceMode during the middle of an elimination match
No offense to the unveiling team, but I felt like the only time VRC got love was the side comment of “oh yeah, the container storage bins also fit full length VRC metal!” To which I believe I wouldn’t be the only thinking this, “great, they gave us storage containers”. I completely understand the need to unveil the VEX IQ products, but I think the comment added a little bit of salt to the wound that we weren’t going to be getting anything new - which I completely understand why we didn’t get anything majorily new this year: creating an entirely new robotics league is a major undertaking and I’m truly impressed with the amount of detail that I’ve seen so far in the entire league.
I agree with Tabor, there should’ve been some sort of product unveiling (even at Worlds) that didn’t pertain specifically to the VRC. That way, everybody knows it has very little to do with VRC and can’t get let down. In fact, you might get even more enthusiasm because all of us VRC’rs aren’t let down by not getting anything new, there would be a lot of curiosity as to what VEX could possibly be releasing that isn’t related to VRC.
I suppose some of this might’ve come off as a whiny child, my intention was not such. I wanted to give some of my thoughts as to how the average VRC World Championship attendee might’ve felt, even if just unconsciously. I tried to be blunt with that.
I realize now that VEX IQ and VRC are going to be sharing World venues, which I think is great for the IQ league to see what they could be doing in a couple of years. It’d be a great inspiration tool. Perhaps the devoted customer base is having some growing pains into having to share things from time to time :).
I say, let’s make a poll - send it out via team notification email, if you’d like - to see what VEX should make next for VRC. The poll would obviously contain things that are plausible and make business sense, with the point being to determine what the community wants the most that VEX can reasonably make.
