2014-2015 Vex Robotics Season KickoffYour kids will be exposed to Vex robotics in school this year...

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2014-2015 Vex Robotics Season Kickoff September 2 & 3 2014

We are a 501c non-profit to house our Vex and Lego programs

The Vexmen build and program robots in a competitive program called the Vex Robotics Competition run by RECF.

Only parts from IFI’s Vex system can be used

Competitions run from Dec - March

Your kids will be exposed to Vex robotics in school this year via Project Lead The Way

However, We Are Different: We are a robotics club outside the school

100% Parent Organized and Run

We will compete in an International Competition

We Provide a More In Depth Program With More Hands On Time With The Robots and Programming

Educate and inspire roboteers

Build confidence & competitive drive

Teach critical thinking

Problem solving skills and persistence

Expose students to STEM professionals

4 5 6 7

2013-14 FLL Teams PM

6 7 8 9 10 11

2013-2104 Vexmen

St Elizabeth

PierceM

ST PPJ

Home School

Grew to 22 teams last year

Vexmen Cover Grades 6 Through 11

We are one of the largest robotics clubs in the country (maybe the world)

Attended world championships in the past 5 years

Won awards at world championships past 4 years

Run additional spring educational classes after main season to learn advanced concepts

Middle School Teams 80A Archangel 80C Colossus 80H Havoc 80I Iceman 80M Mercury 80N Nightcrawler 80P Pyro

High School Teams 81A Apocalypse 81B Banshee 81D Darwin 81G Gambit 81J Juggernaut

80R Rogue 80T Thunderbolt 80W Warpath 80X X-23 80Y Cypher 90C Cyclops

81M Mystique 81S Sabretooth 81W Wolverine 91S Stuff

Chief Roboteer: Glenn McMillen

Treasurer: Steve Lubeck

Secretary: Chris Hallahan

FLL Scott Featherman

Science Motion, forces, gear ratios, speed, energy

Technology Programming & computational thinking

Engineering Design, mechanics, problem solving, constraints

Math Ratios, control systems, trigonometry, estimation

We Are A 100% Parent Run Organization Each Team Needs 1-2 Parent Mentors (min)

5 roboteers maximum Parents help guide the kids as project managers We will offer help teaching and guiding mentors

We need other parental help at events & running the club

Judges & referees at events Website, photography publishing Parts Czar/Quartermasters

All Day Events, January - March On a Saturday 8am – 5pm

Expect to stay until the end to pack up

Most are January – first week of March

Tournament Style Paired with another robot, random in qualifying

Additional Judged Awards Design, programming, amaze, build construction

Separate Middle & High School Divisions However, many are open competitions

This year, all World Championship spots will be awarded at the PA State Championships

Earn 1 of 50 spots to qualify from season events Only teams from PA may participate at PA States

High School & Middle School Divisions This Year! 9 Spots Allocated to Pennsylvania For Worlds

7 High School Spots, 2 Middle School Spots 1 Excellence Award 1 Excellence Award 1 Design Award 1 Design Award 3 Tournament Champs 1 Programming Skills 1 Robot Skills Champ

PA States Held at Norristown on 2/28/2015

Meeting at 6th Grade Center Clean up requirements increased

Looking at additional space Weekend availability

Additional storage

Permanent field Set Up

This year’s price is higher due to rent $375 per child

Every effort is made to keep costs down

Checks made payable to Brandywine Robotics

Your $375 covers…. Parts

Competition entry fees

Team registration fees

Space rental

Utilities, insurance & other club expenses

Tuesday or Wednesday Build Nights Limit to max 12 teams per night

o Wednesday night was at capacity last year

Night selection process

o 2013 Wednesday night teams have first selection

o FLL graduating teams have next selection

o New members after that

Really tall robots required Tipping over robots a risk

Grip & lift 1.5 lb cubes

Skyrise section building

No more handling robots on field

Email Blasts #1 Mechanism Group emails come from announcements@vexmen.com

Please also add glenn@vexmen.com, slubeck@vexmen.com, chris@vexmen.com, mike@vexmen.com to avoid spam filters

Vexmen Website www.vexmen.com Calendar of next events on side bar Next event details on home page

Each team will have an email group E.g. juggernaut@vemxen.com goes to all 81J

Additional Tools We Use Sign Up Genius – sign up for jobs at events, food, tours Survey Monkey – surveys and various forms

2013 Vexmen P&L Summary:

$37k Income o$11k donations and fundraising,

$23k from regular season dues, $3k spring session dues

$34.5k expenses o $8k Utilities,

$15k Vex parts, $8k event fees, $3.5k other supplies

Year 1

Build basics, learn the tools

Iterate your design, find what works

Interview practice, team building

Start to learn programming

Year 2

More solid designs, a competitive robot

More “stick time” - drive skills increase

Better at planning and iterating

Design notebook starts to look good

Year 3 Great, solid designs Design process & independent thinking Position & speed control using Trigonometry, velocity, acceleration, and sensors Good driving techniques, better programming

Year 4+ Programming skills increase Innovative builds Better communication skills Better planning skills – agile development Control systems, sensor use, coding strucutres

New people stay here to learn more

Existing teams register with Chris

Then new teams register afterwards

No one cares more about your child’s

education than you do.

In a 2006 assessment American students ranked

21st out of 30 in science literacy among students

from developed countries, and 25th out of 30 in

math literacy.

On a 2009 assessment, 4th graders showed no

signs of progress for the first time in many years,

and 8th graders tallied only modest evidence of

progress. We are not advancing as we must.

The average salary for a 25-34yr old STEM worker is 24% higher than non-STEM workers

We are here to play a game

Iterative improvement each week

A collaborative team, group and community

Righty tighty lefty loosey

Build basic drive systems & mechanisms

Programing & sensors

Team skills

Learn more advanced programming as your skills increase

Learn about engineering and mechanics as your creations complexity rises

Mechanical

Control

Gear Box

Wheels

Power Transmission

Chain/Sprocket

Electrical Programmin

g Manipulator

Chassis

Component Level

System Level

Product Level

Hardware Level

Sub-System Level

Omni wheels – two sizes 4” & 2.75”

Unlike a car we don’t typically move the front wheels to steer Either up front or all around Holonomic

4” High grip wheels

2.75” Small grip wheels

5” Low traction wheels

Mechanum wheels Allows strafing in a normal wheel set up, but slow

Motors drive the robot and power the arms and feeders

High strength “393”

Low power “269”

Gears create more power or more speed

Vex Cortex: The brain of the operation Controls up to 10 motors, and 20 sensors Powered by a 7V battery with a 9v backup

Joysticks: X-Box like controls Up to two together drive the robot Communicates via VexNet (802.11g)