Vex Robotics Worlds

What is it?

Vex Robotics is an international robotics competition. In it, teams compete to complete challenges that change each year. In 2016, my team -- Parallax 8900 -- made it to worlds. The rules are fairly complicated, but as a simple explanation, the object of this game is to get the balls in the net.

What was the process?

We spent the entire school year and some of us our summers building and programming these robots. It was month after month of competitions and redesigns. Even as I write this, I have another competition tomorrow.

What did I learn?

• Long Term Commitments
  • I learned how to plan out time and work accordingly to a long-term goal
• Robotic debugging
  • I learned how to debug a mechanical object
• Fast fixes
  • Competitions required a robot repair turnaround of minutes sometimes. It was ridiculous and tiring.

Results?

My team scored in the top two percent of all teams in the world. The experience was invaluable, and we hope to do even better next year.