VisualEdge Game-in-a-Box

A VisualEdge Game-in-a-Box provides a unique opportunity to introduce robotics into the classroom. Each game is designed to stimulate student learning and engages participants to solve a variety of math, science and engineering problems.

Games are designed for various levels of experience and can be adapted for use with any educational robotics system that you may be currently using. Everything you need to play is in the box. Components typically include scoring goals, scoring components, fasteners, rules, field construction plans, and scoring software. We at VisualEdge would like to introduce the Game-in-a-Box.

Currently, there are two versions of the Game-in-a-Box available for purchase on www.vexlabs.com

INVOLUTION

Involution™ is a battle-tested intermediate-level robotics game that offers fast-paced action and is a true test of efficient robot design, control and skill. A combination of a unique scoring goal and a limited number of scoring components adds the element of strategy and quick thinking into the problem-solving equation. Rookie and veteran robot builders can be competitive at the same time and will both find this game a serious test of their abilities.

One Involution GIAB can support up to a 32-team tournament.

CONE ZONE

Cone Zone™ is a entry-level robotics game that is action-packed and full of excitement. The unique scoring device, the Conic, provides a challenge that, on the surface, appears simple, but presents many design obstacles in order to score quickly and effectively. The scoring components, a regulation set of pool balls, provide many different scoring possibilities and thought-provoking design problems due to their size, weight, texture and inertial qualities.

We welcome any feedback or questions that you may have. Also, be sure to check out our website at http://www.visualedgeinc.biz/

Neat, it’s nice to see more support for VEX in the form of other companies developing for it.

This is cool but not worth it.

Break it down and look at what you get

Large assorted tubes

A bunch of foam balls

This is really expensive for what you get, $50 would be a better price.

I could get all of those sizes and cut them out of pvc and have enough to build like 50 kits.

As for the foam balls order them in bulk, i could probably get a 100 for $10 or less.

And this kit is just a pipe, if you build it yourself out of pvc you can add angles and all sorts of pieces.

Bottom line is that this is cool but is badly priced.

ok, this is cool

and about the above post ^
they’re not foam balls, they are racquetballs which are about 3 for $10 dollars (i play racquetball, i would know)

then they a billiard balls, which i believe are ceramic

and i dont know whats on the CD but i do know that software can be expensive

it also comes with mounting hardware, which im not sure what that “mounting hardware” contains but im guessing it would be worth the price

i think this is worth it

If buy the balls retail of course they will be 3 for $10 but when you buy them in bulk maybe 10,000 you get a hell of a discount.

It said resource cd so i am assuming that it has nothing more than game plans and such. And many times the software these company’s use are free programs that they bundle together.

And any mounting hardware they include would probably be stands which are not hard to make at all.

In the end look at it logically, it is a bunch of pipes balls and stands for $150.

Now come on you can buy balls, and pipes and make your own stands for much much much cheaper.

Save the money and buy motors ect…

If you don’t find value in the product, maybe it is not for you.

Isn’t a hamburger from a restaurant something you could just make for yourself in your kitchen at home?

I think it is a great idea.

and yet we still get that hamburger at the restaurant just becauses it’s better

:smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:
and besides if you were hosting a competition you want something that looks professional

i agree, its a great idea

Its a great idea i have to admit!

But if you are not going to be in a competition and you need a design challenge you might just want to make it yourself.

I am a DIY person i will not buy something unless i cannot make it and in this case i can build every piece of this for 1/5 the cost so its more economical for me.

But i guess in the end it all comes down to what you want, either a more expensive professional looking set, or a set that gets the job done.

Thats all there is to it and thats all i was saying is that if you want a design challenge but don’t have $150 to buy this build it yourself and you’ll get something that works.

I think it is a great idea.

Yes you are paying a little more (not that much when you spend the time and other such things) but it looks so much better than homemade ones and visual edge needs to make money also.

I am the same as you robofreak, I like to make all my own things. But when people see this instead of homemade you make a better impression at a competition.

I have played both games and they are both amazing and very easy to learn the rules. If you were to implement this is many applications (e.g. classroom or group of friends) it will be a big hit. You can easily use one VEX kit to create a robot to dominate this game. The field is also very robust and easy to put together or move. I would definitely suggest buying one of these if you have the money and the ambition to hold a tournament or implement this in a classroom.

Thank you all for your feedback.

The “Resource CD” contains several useful goodies. All files on the CD are tailored for the specific game in which they are packaged. Here is a listing of what is contained on the Involution version of the CD with some descriptions.

**Scoring Software **
Included in Microsoft Excel format. This allows for the files to be customized easily by the user. We also thought this format would be more familiar to most users. The scoring software file contains a scoring log spreadsheet that ranks teams in realtime and tallies win-loss record and tiebreakers. There is also a randomized match schedule for 8-team and 16-team formats. Finally, we have included a fill-in-the-blank double elimination tournament bracket. A small thumbnail of these can be seen on the product page of our website.

Printable Score Sheets
These sheets are to be used by the field referee(s) to score each match. They are very convenient.

Competition Rules
*These a competition-tested rules. These rules are in PDF format and are intended for email distribution to all participants. *

**Printable Award Certificates **
Provided in Microsoft Powerpoint (for ease of use). These full-color certificates are to hand out to winners and participants of your tournament.

Referee Instructions
These are guidelines for those people that want to become a proficient robotics referee.

Instruction Manual
This is just a digital back-up to the manual that comes preprinted in the box.

Wow this is much more than I expected. How is the time line for developing more games.

This sounds interesting.

We are hoping to have 2 more game offerings by the beginning of May. Games will fall into 3 categories:

-Autonomous
-Competitive
-Skills Challenge

We are currently developing our first autonomous offering as well as another competitive one.

We will make an announcement on this forum when the time comes.

It looks good for thise schools who don’t have the money to go to a regional or other competition.

From the tournament I saw of Involution at this past year’s IRI, I think you are only allowed to use a single kit with the game.

That makes it hard, but fair.

Yeah. You only have a motor and a servo to build any kind of mechanism. You have to really creative.

This included a bit more software than i had thought.

Its looks nice and professional so it seems like just the thing you would need for a competition.