Top 10 Tips For Vex Teams

[@turtle8007]

Thanks for the tips!

[@channelname3385]

This is actually great advice! Coming from someone more experienced, these tips CAN really improve your robot and time management skills. You don't have to be perfect to do good. A few years ago, my team made it to top 5 at state with a sketchy robot that fell apart every 10 seconds. The one that I would emphasize more on is #4, keeping things stocked up and organized will REALLY improve your team's efficiency and productiveness. And it is nice to know if and when you need to get more supplies.

[@arctic_angel7408]

this man sounds like matpat

[@adreanarnette3387]

My son is only in 5th grade but he loves being on his robotic team with school. He loves watching these and learning. Although he doesnt deal with the metal pieces yet he still wants to continue as long as he is able.

[@bucketfullabiscuits7865]

I constantly preach how although there is nothing wrong with metabots, a simplicistic robot can go way farther than one imagines. If you look at the divisions of middle school worlds last year, there were tons and tons of barely functional metabots, and most qual matches had teams that couldn’t score more than 50 points. When I saw this pattern early season, I build a bot that only did mobile goals and defense. I consistently got semifinals throughout the year, outplacing many who tried to make a design better than me when it was too difficult for them.

[@ryleesmith-taylor7433]

The issue with this strategy is that you are limiting how far you can competitively go. I know that in middle school it's viable to use a non-meta bot that preforms simpler tasks. This however, won't fly once you go to high school divisions. If you go into worlds with anything that isn't as efficient or an improvement upon meta designs, you won't make it very far. Every non meta bot that came to world's was beaten and outplayed by competitive meta bots. The meta is the meta because it is the Most Efficient Tactic Available in the eyes of current competitors. There are non meta bots that preformed well but this is only due to them being able to do all tasks as efficiently as specialized bots. Take the DR4B that was the meta for ITZ. It was a mogo bot base with a highly efficient cone stacking subsystem built on top of it. This meant that it could preform both tasks with great efficiency. That is why it became the meta. Also, mogo bots WERE a regional meta often being higher ranking due to having high skills run potential. This, however didn't fly at worlds with the few remaining mogo bots being some of the lowest ranking bots in the comp.

[@kunalshah7539]

NEVER BUY HEX EVER THEY WILL SCREW YOU OVER WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT edit:pun not intended lol

[@adamsalem-s]

💀💀💀

[@lucassacdalan8427]

I wish vex iq can be like this version of vex. I would like to use as many rubber bands as possible, except we have limited vex rubber bands. I could probably go to the store and buy a whole jar full of rubber bands and have enough for a ultimate robot that can do everything.

[@brycelaffer2580]

what off-brand spacer do you use?

[@KeplerElectronics]

We actually don’t use off-brand spacers. Some bigger hardware stores do sell the nylon spacers though.

[@gumby5068]

last tip is funny... as our team is currently rebuilding a week before state, we started the full rebuild 11 days before, currently 6 days till state. (we still have our old bot tho)

[@z-powered-nathan]

What is the vex discord code?

[@KeplerElectronics]

discord.gg/VUStG8p

[@mf_01]

star screws work really well also

[@KeplerElectronics]

Yes, they do. They are just a bit too expensive for the team. These have most of the benefits of the star drive screws, but are cheaper.

[@michaelsuda229]

You have the best robotics team

[@KeplerElectronics]

Why thank you :)

[@tvchino3407]

Matpat?

[@Ruby-jq7ty]

THATS WHAT I WAS THINKING

[@baaz6968]

ngl best organization is disorganization. quick easy and effortless

[@mylesavery5705]

Not using vex parts (even screws) is 100% illegal and will lead to an instant disqualification from the entire tournament. My state is very strict about this.

[@KeplerElectronics]

I'm not really sure what your state is up to then. In the Vex rulebook, rule part c says that "Robots are allowed the following additional “non-VEX” components... Any commercially available #4, #6, #8, M2, M2.5, M3 or M4 screw up to 2" long (nominal), and any commercially available nut and/or washer to fit these screws." It goes on from there, but if you want to see for yourself, the link to the manual is right here. content.vexrobotics.com/docs/vrc-turning-point/VRC-TurningPoint-GameManual-20180817.pdf If your state threatens to disqualify you, then I'd show them this rule and say that it's allowed in the official vex rulebook. I've seen refs make calls that contradict the rulebook, and then after being (politely) shown the rule, they have reversed their previous stance. I hope this helps, if you have anything else, feel free to let me know.

[@kunalshah7539]

Im with Kepler, I have seen tons of non-vex screws, even plastic screws considered legal

[@jayden.02]

I’m on a vex iq team and for a competition somebody threatened us that we would be disqualified because we have spacers for metal

[@bertenheimer]

Your state is trippin hard bro, like idk what them event organizers and refs are on 💀