VEX Robotics Program FAQ

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1 What is VEX Robotics? The VEX Robotics Competition is the largest and fastest growing middle and high school robotics program globally with more than 3,500 teams from 20 countries playing in over 250 tournaments worldwide. Events are held often and more are being added every week. What are the goals of City Schools VEX robotics program? 1. Motivate students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related careers. 2. Provide students with an opportunity to practice the STEM disciplines competitively. What do the students on a VEX team do? Analyze a game (it changes every year) in order to create a robotic solution. Design, build, and program a robot using the VEX design system. Compete in friendly, sports-like tournaments. Work together and solve problems as a team. Proudly celebrate their team s accomplishments. Who can participate? The VEX robotics program is for students in grades How many VEX teams can our school have? A school can have as many VEX teams as it can afford (approximately $1,700 per kit). City Schools can only provide one robot kit to most schools in the program. Schools can request a second robot but there is a limited supply. How many students can be on one team? There are no team size limits, but we recommend that schools start with three dedicated students per team (there is only room for two students to touch a robot at a time and the other student can program). Some established teams have evolved more specific roles and responsibilities (builder, designer, programmer, scout ) which allow them to field larger teams. 1

2 How many hours a week do teams meet? Teams will meet for at least 4 hours per week. Teams that invest more time win more awards. How is the program staffed? The program will be led by at least one teacher (coach), preferably two. Are teachers compensated? Teachers will receive 1 AU for successfully completing VEX Robot Works. Teachers can apply for additional AUs for the time they spend after school working with students. Successful robotics teachers/coaches work as long and hard as sports coaches. Some schools have elected to give teachers stipends, but it is not stipulated by the BTU contract. What field trips/off site events are part of the program? You can find a listing of all VEX events on the robot events website: Schools must select at least three competitions (not including scrimmages) and register via the robot events website. It is important to register early since Maryland events tend to fill up quickly. What do other teams do for transportation? Parents/guardians arrange transportation for their child (free). Schools pay for yellow busses (approximately $465/event). Schools that choose to bus their students are encouraged to coordinate their efforts and decrease costs by sharing buses. How much will the program cost? City Schools will be providing $1,700 worth of reusable robotics equipment per team for the school year. Schools that complete all program requirements and register a VEX team (by June 2013) for the school year get to keep the equipment (otherwise the equipment must be returned to City Schools). Schools must provide for transportation to three competitions (see sample budgets) and pay annual expenses that includes registration fees, extra parts, and supplies (approximately $525 for one team and $1000 for two teams). 2

3 What would a sample VEX budget look like for a school with one team? description quantity item cost subtotal VEX registration fee 1 $75.00 $75.00 tournament registration (estimate) 3 $ $ extra parts (estimate) 3 $50.00 $ transportation to events 3 varied varied Total: *$ Tournament registration fees are set by individual event organizers. The typical cost is $100 though some events cost less and championship level events can cost more. *Transportation costs are not included since most schools ask parents to arrange transportation (carpools) for their children. If a school decides to pay for bussing it costs approximately $465 per event unless schools arrange to share buses. What would a sample VEX budget look like for a school with two teams? description quantity item cost subtotal VEX registration fee for 1st team 1 $75.00 $75.00 VEX registration fee for 2nd team 1 $25.00 $25.00 tournament registration for 1st team (estimate) 3 $ $ tournament registration for 2nd team (estimate) 3 $ $ extra parts (estimate) 6 $50.00 $ transportation to events 3 varied varied Total: *$1, Tournament registration fees are set by individual event organizers. The typical cost is $100 though some events cost less and championship level events can cost more. (*) Transportation costs are not included since most schools ask parents to arrange transportation (carpools) for their children. If a school decides to pay for bussing it costs approximately $465 per event unless schools arrange to share buses. Do we need to buy T-shirts? Most (but not all) VEX robotics teams have custom designed T-shirts or uniforms of some sort. Many teams save money by having students wear school uniforms or other school-logo gear to competitions. 3

4 Will my students miss school because of robotics competitions? Almost all events are held on Saturdays so your students will not miss any school unless you qualify for the World Championship. Is food available at the competitions? Most event organizers setup a concession stand. Running events costs money so most event organizers use the concessions to recoup expenses. Some event organizers request that teams don t bring food into the venue in order to make money on concessions. What do other teams do for food at competitions? Students are instructed to bring food or money for food. Parents buy food for the team. Schools purchase food for the students. How many computers will we need? You will need at least one laptop per team. You will need to install (or have ITD install) the accompanying software on at least one laptop that you can bring with you to the competitions. How much space will we need? You can meet in almost any classroom, as long as students can push desks together to work on robots. You will need to have a place where you can store your robotics equipment. Teams that purchase official fields ($ $500 for a game set) for their students to practice on will need a 12 x 12 space to leave the field setup. How will gains be measured? A pre/post survey A comparison of grades and test scores with a control group An end-of-program assessment When are the VEX Robot Works meetings? This depends on the Works schedule for next year which has not been released yet. If it is like it was last year it will be on the third Thursday of every month from 4:30-6:30 for a total of eight two-hour sessions where participants get to actually build and program robots. 4

5 What is the timeline for everything else (besides Robot Works)? May o Applications must be submitted by May 4 August-September o Recruit students o New Coaches Jumpstart Training I (September 15) o New Coaches Jumpstart Training II (September 29) o Administer the pre-season student survey o Register your teams on Robot Events o Register and pay for three events on Robot Events October-February o Compete in three competitions March o VEX Mid-Atlantic Championship April o Administer the post-season student survey and assessment o World Championship Teams have to qualify in order to attend Next year s game is announced May-June o Register for next school year o Recruit students for the next school year o Learn the new game by going to an early season competition Where can I get more information? VEX Website: Robot Events Website: VEX Forums: VEX Wiki: 5