The VEX Robotics Competition is a robotics competition from elementary through university students. It is a subset of VEX Robotics, which is in turn a subset of Innovation First International and is the largest robotics competition in the world as of 2016. There are three divisions of this robotics competition meant for different age groups and skill levels: VEX IQ, VEX EDR, and VEX U. VEX IQ is for elementary and middle school students only. VEX EDR is for middle and high school students, and VEX U is for university students. In the competition, students are given a yearly challenge, and must design, build, program, and drive a robot to complete the challenge as best as they can.
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VEX IQ
The VEX IQ Challenge is a robotics competition for elementary and middle school students. A plastic robot set is used, with pieces that snap together using pegs, and it is extremely easy to construct a robot. Students from grade 3-8 may participate. There is a visual software to program the robot. There are two types of contests: Robot Skills, which is a single robot trying to score as many points as possible, and the Teamwork Challenge, where two robots attempt to work together to do the same.
The current challenge is VEX IQ Crossover, and the objective is to score hexballs into low and high goals and to balance robots on a bridge at the end of the match.
Past Challenges include:
2015-16: Bank Shot
2014-15: Highrise
2013-14: Add It Up
2012-13: Rings-N-Things
VEX EDR
VEX EDR is a robotics competition for middle school and high school students with two different divisions: middle school and high school. In this division, aluminum and steel parts are used, and the robots are built using the VEX EDR Design System. Students from Grades 6-12 may participate. Additionally, while the visual code editor is still available, most students take advantage of VEX's RobotC for their programming. At tournaments, teams participate in qualifying matches where two teams vs two teams participate. In the Elimination Rounds, alliances of three teams are selected by the top-seeded teams, and the alliance who wins the finals is the winner of the tournament.
The current challenge is VEX Competition Starstruck, where star-shaped objects and pillow-like cubes are thrown/dumped across a 18"-24" fence. The robots may also hang on a bar. The alliance with the most points (which can be gained by having more scoring objects on the opposite side of the fence and by hanging) wins the match.
Rules
Middle and high school students have the same game and rules. The most general and basic rules for VEX EDR are as follows, but each year may have exceptions.
Past Games
2007-2008: Bridge Battle
2008-2009: Elevation
2009-2010: Clean Sweep
2010-2011: Round Up
2011-2012: Gateway
2012-2013: Sack Attack
2013-2014: Toss Up
2014-2015: Skyrise
2015-2016: Nothing but Net
2016 - 2017: Starstruck
VEX U
The VEX U level competition is for college and university students. The rules are nearly identical for this division as for the EDR division, but VEX U teams are allowed to take advantage of more customization and greater flexibility than other levels. Also, their robot creation is limited by the need to find effective costs and a restricted development environment in order to model a real-world situation. In addition, Vex U teams need to create two different complementary robots, one big and one small, and program them to work together to defeat opponent teams.