We had a team meeting tonight and were noodling around on how to take enough spare parts to support all of our robots at Worlds. We can’t really take our entire stock of parts and tools, but it’s hard to guess in advance what you will need.
Is IFI going to have a Vex store at Worlds? If I knew I could send a mentor and credit card to an onsite store to pick up a battery or PWM cable or servo or motor we could leave a couple of crates of spares at home.
How about IFI folks? Will there be a Vex store in Dallas?
That is actually a totally awesome idea. I can imagine some sales of Vex kits could be inspired while watching, maybe not a whole lot, but certainly a few.
I think the store is a great idea, and I think they would be able to sell a number of kits. We had fliers made up to direct people to the website to order kits. Plus I’m a big impulse buyer, so walking up to an entire rack of Vex parts would be a big Master Card event.
I just came back from the Annapolis FRC and it’s amazing the amount of spare parts people take. (Not to mention the tools. One team had a band saw. ??? ) I know that between my four Vex teams we have all the parts to build another robot, including a controller and transmitters. My guess is that you could walk around the World Championships and find everything you need, just ask.
One of the experiments I want to try is to walk to each team and get a part or two and build a robot. I’d guess that not only would I get all the parts, but I could get roboteers to assemble it. Only big question is could we enter it and win?
Another point, I’m from a brazilian team, and here we don’t have all the vex components for sale, and we had the same ideia too, about opening a store on Dallas.
Then we would send some money to get a lot of parts that we’re not able to get here in Brazil. :D:D
I hope by fun things you do not mean new parts such as the gyroscope.
I think it would be extremely unfair if new, useful parts were sold at the event we’ve all been preparing for. In my mind, it defeats the purpose of preparation. I would hate to buy a gyroscope, for example, at the Dallas competition and then be scrambling the entire day trying to implement it into my robot.
I don’t mean to be rude but this is a great fear of mine.
By all means, I would greatly appreciate parts being sold at Dallas.
If Dallas is the most convienient way for Vex to sell parts, even new ones, then by all means I think it’s perfectly fine to release new parts at this time.
Although there is some temptation to stick a cool new part on your robot at the last minute, the best robot you’ll have at the competition is almost certainly the one you brought with you. Though you may do a bit of tweaking on your robot and programming, major modifications at the last minute usually put you in a worse spot than before. Putting away your cool new parts to enjoy at home will make your experience more relaxed; I wouldn’t worry about all the other teams “getting ahead”, because not many other teams will want a major overhaul at the last minute, either. The rare team that successfully implements something new deserves their success, but also pays a price – more risk, more stress, and less chance to “hobnob” with other teams. Some people like taking a chance at that rare success, but I’m not one of them. At the moment, “Enjoy” is higher on our priority list than “Award.”
In my case, i used the gyroscope as an example because of the problems i’ve been having while turning during autonomous runs. I always assumed a vex gyroscope would solve that problem, so i’ve always planned on installing one asap, even if it was last minute, on the spot at a competition.
But i guess that’s a topic for another thread
That sounds really great - I just wish I was going! I think that it would be really great to see a competetion in person and having a VEX store there too would make it the best experience ever!
I’m not sure if the “other fun things” will be new VEX products or not though, but it would great if they were. Just remember to bring plenty of money or your credit card!
More wish list items for the Vex store: replacement antennas. And how about selling the clear plastic antenna tubes separately? We’d buy a dozen (or 100 straws, if they were the right size).
I second this idea. Last night I couldn’t find my antenna tube and I was worried that i’d have to buy the RX Accessories kit… which isn’t all that expensive at $4.99 but buying the tubes separately for about a dollar each would be nice.
Luckily I found the tube lying around by some metal pieces
Having had the antennas for a while, I’ve noticed they have a really big tendency to get ground in the gearboxes which just destroys them. Replacements would be nice and maybe some other stuff, especially if there’s discounts
It’d be nice if the tubes were available online, too. Us non-competition members (“us” meaning “me”) would also like to replace the things, too. Until then, it’s bendy straws and electrical tape…:rolleyes:
