- Traveling with code tip:
Before you leave for a tournament, save code to both your laptop as well as a USB. Zip-tie a rubber band onto the USB and put the rubber band around your wrist (Basically, the USB will stay on your person at ALL times during travel), and give your laptop to someone who has a backpack. If you lose the laptop, you will have a reliable backup on you at all times to borrow a laptop from another team. - Zip ties/Rubber bands tip
ALWAYS make sure you have zip ties and rubber bands. They are esential and can help you in not just robot situations but emergency situations. - You look like a geek, who cares tip
Have a fanny pack on you to carry rubber bands, zip ties, and tools so if you need to do something really quick you don’t have to run back to the pit if you’re in the queue. - Coding backup tip
If you have a ton of space on your computer, always click “save as” rather than “save” so you will have yourself multiple backups, and when you save you set the name as the current qualification match number so you will know an accurate timeframe of when the code was downloaded. - Lexan tip
Lexan is becoming more and more useful as the season progresses, as it is thin, light, and easy to cut. Go to competitions with a sheet of lexan, tin snips, and a drill so you can easily make objects in a bind. - Dork
Freaking smile, ya dork. You’re competing to have fun! If something bad happens, always smile as it is very good at reducing stress. - Debugging tip
The output exists for a reason! Printing to the Console (VEXcode/VCS) - #3 by jpearman While writing code, you can write a statement that prints to help get information on where the code gets stuck/yielded/pauses. This can seriously change 1 hour of problem solving to a mere 5 minutes. - Social tip
If you’re wanting to be competitive, you HAVE to be social. Collaborate with other teams inside or outside your organization, or ask for help on a discord server. If you are just by yourself trying to figure VEX out, then how are you expecting yourself to produce something competitive as all the other teams will know more in’s and out’s of the VEX system than you? - Hold your horses
As much as I love making creative designs, don’t immediately start building after a game reveal. You may find yourself not liking the design you build, then congrats you wasted $200 of metal. Don’t waste $200, and spend time planning either by making a CAD or listening to other’s inputs on VEXForum. - V5 is strong
When building a robot, build it in a manner that is durable to a point where you are confident the robot can handle a drop of 1-2 feet (I’m not saying actually drop it, but build a robot that you’re certain it can handle such a drop). You need a robot that is capable of handling defense, as VEX can be extremely brutal especially with V5. As an addition, we don’t want your robot to be destroyed during transport to a signature event… Or even worlds
- Strategically, focus on now, not what may be ahead.
When competing, never look into the future. Always be skeptical, as optimism will kill you in a competition. And eventually, you will find your “I’m gonna do x and y for worlds” become a redundant statement because you didn’t qualify for worlds, and you overlooked your state championship. - Engineering-wise, focus on ahead, but not the now
Build your robot in a manner 10 steps ahead of what you anticipate your competition to be, as other teams will be doing the same. Spend time perfecting your robot, and most importantly let your driver drive away with your robot to get the kinks out. - Bored? That’s not allowed
Always make sure everyone on your team does something. Make sure everyone has something to do and don’t single anyone out. And when something is done, let them play around for all they want but never let them play with something they can’t easily get out of so they can get back to work when it’s needed.