What are those letters at the top of this page?

probably posting to the wrong forum, but what’s V5, CORTEX, and PRO? and EDR?

Google is your friend. Please make an effort to look things up before asking questions.

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And make sure to do the right category. Check those sites out.

I dont want to cause issue but when you click V5, a V4(CORTEX) robot shows up right at the top of the page and it confused me for a couple seconds until I figured it out.

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Hello fellow VEXIQ enthusiast!

As you know VEX makes an amazing array of robotics parts.

They start with the smaller line of HEXbugs which are two groups. The HEXbugs (little bouncy robots that move all around in crazy ways. Fun to race!). The other group are HEXbug robots. Small kits that can be assembled by ages 5-14 to play with and be inspired by. My favorite of these is the race car. There is about a dozen of them and the uber kit is “Build Blitz”

It’s a bridge to the VEXIQ robots that you are part of. Cool thing is all the different parts that’s in the HEXbug kits will work with VEXIQ. So you get a huge amount of colors, shapes, etc. Which, if you consider them hand in hand makes the combo the best robotics assembly parts set available anywhere.

The next level is converting the beams and struts in VEXIQ to metal and that’s called EDR. Metal parts that can be cut, drilled and bent. So while you dig around in your parts box for a 2x12, within moments (and a hack saw) you can create one out of a 2x3x35. Gears are the same, hole spacing the same, so translation is pretty quick.

The VEXIQ brain is pretty awesome. The 12 ports, lots of sensors makes it a premier robot brain. The EDR brain was called Cortex and when it came out it was the cat’s pajamas. But tech overtakes tech (like the VEXIQ brain blew it out of the water). So to achieve robot parity, an new EDR brain, the V5 was released as the new EDR brain. More ports, more cool features. Along with it came new V5 motors that are about 4 times more powerful than the VIQ motors.

Which leaves us with PRO. So we all know that design and driver skills is two legs of the stool that is VEX. The third (most important?) is software. I’m a huge fan of RobotC and it’s never failed me creating code that I need. But this amazing team from Perdue (the P in PROS) created a new programming environment that is professional grade. Nice stuff and lots of top teams use it.

You’ll see post about VEXCode, that’s the new coding that goes with EDR V5 and can be used with VEXIQ. But there is also the very cool Robotmesh line of software (which is my current favorite for V5).

There is the VEX universe in a nutshell. Welcome to VEX robotics!

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The “PRO” link at the top of these pages refers to the vexPRO line of parts for FRC, FTC, and VEXU teams.

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So VEX IQ is the platform for VIQC. I’ m guessing both V5 and Cortex will work with EDR (metal) hardware and either one can be used in VRC?..

Oh right, sorry, stuck in my mind set of PROS the coolest robotics software since ?

PRO is the top end line, want to build a winning battle bot? Want to build a robot that is 30" x 30" x 45" and weighs 150 lbs and goes 10 FPS? (Wicked fast) that then turns the corner and zooms the other way? Want to upgrade a 4 wheel beach bike to take you and your granddaughter to the pool via battery power? VEX PRO to the rescue. They have an amazing line of frames, motors, shafts, gears, gear boxes and sensors. All tested, all ready for you to use and beat the daylights out of.

And might as well round out. VEX is owned by a company that makes computer racks. Want to build a 5 acre data center? Want to fill it with top of the line racks to hold all your servers? These are the guys to talk to.

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Yep you can do EDR with either Cortex or V5 motors and controllers. Hard core competition teams are V5, but lots of schools that have extensive Cortex gear are just now making the transition.

For competition, I like V5. But to be honest, for schools, I like cortex. V5 is moar power, Tim Taylor from tool time would be proud. Are you a poor engineer? Toss some V5’s on it and overcome your problem. For students I like the "OK, so that won’t lift, what can you do (gearing, lifts, cantilevers, etc.) to make it work.

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What (VEX) software can be used to program IQ, Cortex, and V5 brains? Is the software cross-compatible? Or is VEX IQ Code Blocks strictly for VEX IQ, and VEX V5 Code Blocks strictly for V5? Part of the reason for my confusion is that the Vex IQ robot brain page states: " Programmable with VEXcode Blocks and VEXcode Text" but if I follow the download link , I see that VEXcode IQ Text hasn’t been released yet (unlike VEXcode V5 Text).

I’ll give you the short answer. The initial rollout of the V5 software across the product lines was a mess. A year later V5 Code got released. They are playing catchup to get parity with software like RobotC for both IQ and Cortex.

I think it will take them another year to 18 months to sort it all out and have things working across the product line.

The links on the page give you your best directions as of now.

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