Student robot makers who want to do more than snap together a plastic robot kit have, until recently, had few options that didn't involve lots of money or even some custom parts fabrication. Now, though, they can just pick up the VEX Robotics System developed by Innovation First Inc. and Radio Shack.
At $299, the VEX system contains all a budding robot maker needs to get started, including steel structural elements, a multitude of power transmission components, servo motors, a programmable 10 MIPS micro controller and radio controls. It also exhibits some clever mechanical design choices that make these robots simple to assemble and adaptable to many different tasks.
VEX, which won an Innovations Award at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show, got its start as a way to create some middle ground between the two classes of robots used in the FIRST student robot competition. Students 9 to 14 years old compete with robots they build from Mindstorms LEGO-based kits, while high school teams compete with much more complex robots that can cost several thousand dollars.
VEX now has its own FIRST class, one for high school students wanting to compete with a mid-level robot. "VEX fills that gap between playing with Lego and custom machining your own robot parts," says Sam Mahserjian, the Radio Shack product manager for the VEX.
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 VEX’s steel structural elements contain holes that allow for the quick mounting and adjustment of power transmission components.
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Although it needs no custom parts, the VEX kit doesn't sacrifice much in the way of design flexibility. For example, the engineers at Innovation First put together a demo robot that can grab a long-neck beer bottle off a table, open it and pour it in a glass (see it at http://rbi.ims.ca/4917-511). "It's an incredibly versatile kit," says John V-Neun, one of the engineers who built the robotic bottle opener. "You can build just about anything from them."
According to V-Neun, much of the versatility comes down to the design of the sheet steel components used to construct the robot bodies and structural members. Supplied in both flat and angled forms, the sheets have hole patterns that serve a couple of purposes. First, they make it easy to accurately bend or cut the sheet — along the lines defined by the holes themselves.
Second, the holes let the user quickly install and adjust power transmission components. V-Neun explains that the gears mount in a network of holes, so changing a gear ratio involves trying different combinations of gear sizes and corresponding holes. Many VEX holes, which serve as their own bearing blocks, mate with the square shafts used throughout the kit. "So there aren't even any set screws. Just a lot of 'square peg in square hole' kind of stuff," says V-Neun.
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