It’s three weeks into Vex build season and a lot has happened! Teams have built robots that weeks ago were only concept and drawings. Their complex robots had humble beginnings. Joe’s team’s designs have developed a lot, especially the design for their arm. “We started off with a claw design,” he says, “but we quickly realized that the claw was too slow and heavy for our arm. So instead we added an almost vacuum brush type design that is more effective in picking up the cubes.” Another innovative design comes from Sam who has made a wheel base that can go in any direction, even sideways. “Our robot’s base is designed with agility in mind,” he explains. “One of the South mentors showed us a program that they used when they were in middle school and so we used it to make our robot more agile and easier to handle.” Both innovations have made their robots more efficient and easier to use.

All in all the teams are on the way to victory as the finishing of their robots bring them ever closer to competition on November 9th!