What do you love about VEX?

#1

In life we so often only say what we do not like about things and people seldom say what they like about them. We are quick to criticise but slow to praise. Lets change that.

I joined the VEX community in 2008 as a team mentor and fell in love with everything that VEX stands for and what they are trying to achieve. I am starting this tread as a passionate member of the whole VEX community including students, teachers, parents, mentors, EPs, staff, volunteers and sponsors, as someone who believes that we all get more out of the program than we can ever put in.

I love the games and how they test the skills of the students, teaching them the all essential life skills that will serve them well in their chosen careers.

I love the way that all of the VEX staff really care about the program and do everything they can to make it fun and a success. I know the real crazy hours that they work in order to get things done in time.

I love that the game is always changing and keeping all of us trying to find the best way to play it every year.

The world champs are a true marvel but if you never get there then you have not missed out as your local competitions are better than any other sport.

Grow the competition in your area so other people can discover how much fun it is.

I love that Event Partners around the world work so hard to hold the best events they can, their dedication seems limitless, their passion unbounded.

I love that volunteers give up their spare time to help at events, to make it possible for us to have fun.

I love watching students grow from ‘never tightened a bolt before’ to building crazy robots with amazing things such as DR4Bs. In Elevation (2008) we thought that a modified clawbot was crazy complicated!

I love the free curricula that is available and RobotC and cannot wait to see the new coding studio released.

I love the new VEX v5 system, it is going to add a whole new layer of excitement with vision etc.

Please don’t only bash the program in the forum say what is good as well. If you really love the program, you will want new teams to see the good side of what you love not just the complaints.

Tell this thread what you like/love about VEX and let the RECF, IFI and VEX feel that their efforts are worth it. Let them know that they are doing a really great job!

#2

I love the new Bo1 format which encourages teams to build better and have good robots all the time. Even 99.5% of the time is not enough. I think this is important because consistency is important in life in general. I also love all the volunteers because they put in the time and effort to run events for students.

Thank you VEX very much.

-Sal

#3

So I truly love vex. No one can doubt that. I was about to write up everything I love about it when I realized who posted this thread.

You are a Vex employee telling everyone to compliment vex. This thread is very sketchy.

#4

I just liked the past few games in general. starstruck was a great game for my first year, as it was probably the easiest, if not the most simple, game yet. then, itz gave me a really good challenge for my second year. my skills probably improved by 1000%. then, this years game looks like it will be an even better game, with amazing elements. I really like how much effort goes into designing the games.

#5

Shoot, you’re right. Their scheme to try and lighten the tone of the forum in a non-authoritarian way should not go unchallenged!

Why are you trying to throw shade on this, anyways? The employees who spend time on this forum are probably grieved by the sheer amount of edge and dissatisfaction that manifests at times.

I know that there’s a lot of important debate and discussion that’s been happening recently, but it often appears through the ugly frames of accusation and entitlement. I know if we all had even just one week to calm down and let the dust settle, we would be able to come together with less friction and hostility.

Through this post, they are trying to cultivate gratitude and goodwill, and I don’t think it makes any sense to call it sketchy.

#6

As someone who has seen the VEXForum grow in negativity and have an increase to have biases, I am in full support of this thread, regardless who started it.

We need to be polite about the situations going on, ever since the 6007X problem occured it’s just been getting worse and worse with the complaints.

#7

What do you love about VEX? You never said.

To add on to my previous post, I also love how VEX sponsors BattleBots teams to further promote robotics. I think even one team of BattleBots sponsored by VEX has VEX alumni!

#8

I hide nothing. I started as a mentor then was asked to coordinate the charitable trust that coordinates VEX in New Zealand. As someone who genuinely loves the program I am simply asking people to say what they love about the program no more no less. Good stories is what gets me out of bed every day, what keeps any of us all involved, why I am involved. I see no harm in creating a positive thread.

#9

I started the thread as an individual not as a VEX employee. I posted in my own right as someone who cares about the program as much as I am sure you do. Please do not throw shade on VEX or my intentions for starting this thread as I love the program as an individual. If I wanted to do something shady I could easily have done it using another name.

#10

Oh yeah… my apologies. I have a lot of reasons to love VEX, but sadly I cannot explain my true reason in this forum why I love VEX and doing robotics or I will get the DRow police on my back XD (Please don’t ask about it, it’s a rather personal reason). But here are some reasons:

I definitely love the INSANE affordability VEX offers compared to the other Robotics programs, as well as the collaborative environment that is provided while in a competition. I love the fact that VEX listened to the community while working on the V5 platform, as well as I always enjoy VEX Worlds because I get to see people all around the country and globe in one area for a very rich and varying environment.

#11

There is no reason to hide you opinions and I’m sure many people are in agreement with what you said. However, your position in VEX isn’t one which you should say these things under on a public forum, especially in a time when many people are constantly (publicly) criticizing things such as the new rules and regulations related to the elimination bracket and skills challenges. It may not be appropriate for a VEX employee to come and say what you said when you know that many people have been showing a great deal of negativity towards the implementation of things which we can assume you contributed to the deciding of. @tabor473 is a great guy, and more importantly a committed one. He has been involved almost as long as you have, and I’m sure he only said what he said because he knows what a thread like this could lead to.

It is only so awkward when there are threads under the thread titled “What do you love about VEX?” which was written by a VEX employee which criticize the things they dislike about the new rules in VEX and are written by non-VEX employees.

#12

@2158R_Arrash point taken thanks for that. Out of interest what do you like about VEX? Dare I ask what stands out as the best parts of the competition from your perspective? I said some of the things I like, there must be more out there.

Whatever you think my reasons for asking are surely it does not hurt for us to say what is good?

#13

Getting a small nick every time I work with aluminium. I’m not sure why, but it satisfies me.

#14

Are you saying you enjoy getting small cuts from the aluminum? :o Or am I completely misunderstanding your use of the word “nick”?

#15

There is no harm, it just felt very politically charged when I first read it. (Had just been walking into movie theatre so couldn’t respond until now)

So what I love about vex, it’s an interesting question. I guess it starts with a story,

I competed in VEX during 7th and 8th grade, this was Vex season cleansweep and elevation. I was pretty successful in 8th grade. I also competed in FTC and FLL but neither of them really connected with me. Then I started high-school and was ready for bigger and better things. I joined an old poor FRC team and ended up becoming mechanical lead and more or less running the team with one other young student. The team had no mentors and barely had a teacher willing to fill out paperwork.

It went about as well as you expect from an FRC team that can barely afford the registration fee and whatever kids could buy from a hardware store out of pocket. The team had competed 10+ years had no resources, infrastructure or machines. After getting completely stomped and seeing what some of the successful teams had, dozens of engineering mentors and tens of thousands of dollars a year my friend and I were disenchanted with FRC. In the middle of event the two of us were brainstorming on how to solve all of our problems going forward. By the end of the brainstorming we considered starting a new vex team and got more and more convinced it was the right choice.

Funded by whatever we could convince our school to steal from the school supply budget and a couple hundred bucks from each of our parents we started vex team 64. I got really into the Vex community and into Vex in general. The thing I found most engaging about VEX is that it felt like a competition between students. It felt like my effort and my skill was the difference between a successful event and a failure. Which meant I needed to get better and I needed to do it fast. I founded the VEX skype chat and interacted with dozens of teams from 4 continents. I put in thousands of hours working on VEX robots qualifying for the world championship some years but not others. I even attempted to qualify through the world skills list and fell short.

A lot of the big FRC people will talk about how First isn’t about the robots and that is a noble mission. Their goal is to have students be associated and work with robots to inspire them to learn, later. I already knew I was at least interested in robots and just wanted to learn. Even the times when something like FIRST is a competition it isn’t really between students its between these big entities with tons of infrastructure. FRC always felt like nothing the 2 of us could learn or do would result in us being a successful team. VEX felt like the only thing holding us back was us and if we wanted to succeed we had to learn. Small teams meant that there was no diffusion of responsibility, we had to learn every aspect if we wanted to be competitive.

Now I am a PhD student doing research in Robotics. Team 64 has prospered since I left HS and now has 5 teams. I have head reffed the Hong Kong National Championship. Still talk with hundreds of students/teams who have grown to feel as passionately about this program as I do. I have learned so many things from: my own research, other competitors and trial/error.

The friends I have made through the VEX community are my best friends in the world. VEX has been nothing short of life changing.

#16

Nah, it’s exactly what you think it is. It’s literally normal for me to get small cuts here or there when building the robot (we always forget to sand cut channels), and since I have the smallest hands of my team, I usually have to cram screws in some pretty congested areas where it’s guaranteed to scratch something :confused:

#17

VEX robotics and the community around it has made great impacts on my life. I’ve been competing for 3 seasons and have enjoyed all of it. I’ve developed a vast skillset while doing VEX and have learned countless lessons that will stay with me for a very long time. I’ve also built many friendships and bonds within the vex community that have just completely brightened up my life which I am so grateful for.

It has also been a huge help with school. Whenever we learn a new concept in math or physics, its so much easier to grasp when you see how it applies to robotics.

I like to think it’s a healthy obsession and look forward to this next game and the challenges it presents :slight_smile:

#18

What I really like about VEX is the team based aspect. The collaboration between members of a team to contribute to the team’s success is something I really have enjoyed. Your team will be there for you through every hardship and success. At the end, the experiences with your teammates and others in the same community is something that can never be bought, it’s earned through what VEX offers.

#19

VRC supports a growth mindset for my students whether or not they win or lose. Performance metrics, such as skills runs, allow them to see their growth through their season. Having many of my students from 6th grade to 8th, and watching them growth further at the high school makes all the better for me as an educator.

VRC also encourages inter-school community building - the kids connect with others from teams around the region and maintain that connection well after the season ends.

I guess for me, it is more about the winning of competitions, but the opportunities for students to thrive in so many ways that are long lasting.

#20

I guess what I like most about VEX is how fun it is and how it teaches you many things. Building a robot is just cool honestly and competing is really enjoyable. I like the researching, collaboration, prototyping, building, etc.

I started in 8th grade without any knowledge of building robots aside from Lego Mindstorms and limited programming knowledge. I learned programming through online resources and people on VEX Forum, and soon started teaching other people in robotics because I was the only person that really understood programming. I was primarily a programmer for the first few years, and only recently started working on the robot more. Learning that was also through online resources, just finding pictures and videos of quality robots and zooming in to see how everything is built. I was the main person working on my team’s engineering notebook most years, and that taught me some stuff. I occasionally got the judging rubric back (even though that’s against the rules) and I have to say that was a very helpful resource for improving my notebook (almost as helpful as uploaded notebooks like AURA’s and 2915’s). VEX taught me a bunch of stuff, and I really enjoyed being part of it.