I totally agree with this. I don’t want to see Vex become a competition between the “haves” and the “have nots.” There is plenty to learn without adding 3-D printing and what-have-you.
I looked at some old footage from an early competition when the “joysticks” were huge blocks with long antennas and can see why Vex needs to refresh its technology periodically (or we’d still be using those), but, hopefully, it can be made as cost-effective as possible.
I think the cortex/ controller/vexnet key bundle is $400 retail.
Batteries and chargers are the most likely items to be a required purchase, I would think.
Each of the EC3 teams has 6 batteries and 4 chargers and north american cords: 6 * 30 + 4 * (17 +2) =$256
So, cortex bundle plus power is: $400 + 256.
$656 retail per team.
Of course, the new system could be much cheaper…
I would hope there would be a decent amount of carryover. The batteries are rather standard, I would hope they would stay, especially since we doubled our amount of NiMH batteries/chargers this year. And I don’t see why we can’t keep the 393 motors, but maybe a new motor controller to interface with them. I would be all for new sensors, but they should be halfway reusable too.
We still have a lot of PIC systems floating around for some reason (I just started helping last year and took over this year), and the changes between the PIC and the Cortex involved almost everything besides the motors and sensors. So I’m optimistic for an easy (and relatively cheap) transition if/when it happens.
I pray when we get a new system that they keep batteries compatible between both systems. I’m not going to lie, it would be a pain to replace them if I was upgrading stuff.
Granted if I’m a teacher, I’m not inclined to upgrade at all.
There is already a discernable difference between teams that figure out they need to buy structural aluminum ASAP and those that don’t. I wouldn’t want to see it get worse. And I love 3D printing. And laser cutting. And CNC. I just don’t want teams to have to do it in order to be competitive.
You’re also not school-system affilitated. So you can run the Virginia division of our bake sale.
[disclaimer: I am a mentor at a school facility, as you can see in my signature. But I also coach, mentor and write checks for a team outside the school system. ]
HA HA. We actually tried to do a garage sale to raise funds last season. Let’s just say that’s 8 hours of my life I’m not getting back! But, I agree, as a private team, we have multiple ways we can raise funds.
In FTC we use an android phone, connected to different modules that run 12v Motors (we can have up to 8 of them) and servos (we can have up to 12 including vex 393 motors not that I have seen anyone using them) we can also have 16 analog in, 4 pwm, 12 I2C, 16 digital I/O, and 4 analog out sensors and devises. We can also use Lego Mindstorms NXT senors. * And * we can use the phone camera to find things on the field. That’s a lot more than you can do in vex (we also have a 30s autonomous and a 2min driver control).
@Inventer bots Are you guys doing VEX? How many FTC teams are in Nebraska?
No doubt, that it is more than we can do in VEX. They are completely different programs that both have the goal of engaging students in STEM through the use of Robotics Competitions. The philosophy of the two are different however. And in my opinion, both programs teach good engineering principles to the students involved. Good Engineering involves solving a given problem with the constraints that one has to face. Each program also has its share of pros and cons. We have chosen VEX for many reasons, but there are those who choose FIRST for their reasons. I think they are both good programs and I don’t think it pays to compare who has the “coolest” stuff.
Personally, I think the limitations of the cortex and the game rules are similar to Formula 1 racing. Teams in Formula 1 have to build the best race car possible within the limitations of the rules by using limited or regulated parts. The point of the limitations that VEX enforces on us is to challenge us to make something that performs the best within the rules. Every year the rules change, so we have to adapt. The nice thing about the CORTEX system is that basically every team has one, so it is a fair playing field in that respect. A new microcontroller would take a while to be available to every team, especially since some don’t have the funds to spend on new equipment. The best thing for them to do would be to build on the cortex, keeping the specs the same between old and new so that fair competition is maintained, but decreasing the price, not at the expense of quality.