Two EBLS VEX IQ teams get started

Now we had two VEX IQ kits charged and ready to go. Oliver had helped me disassemble the first kit last Friday and we took the second kit home over the weekend to charge and update it's firmware.

The Lego group all seemed happy with their choice and filed off to get to work on their team tasks. They were in for a two hour stint. I hadn't committed anyone in VEX to more than an hour and I thought we'd have enough time to get ready before the December 6th challenge so we stuck to just one hour.

A number of VEX youth said they had conflicts Mondays and Wednesdays at 3:30 - 4:30 PM, so that became our Tuesday Thursday team meeting at the same time on those days. Unfortunately that included the children of both VEX coaches so I went with the Monday Wednesday group. I will try to catch as much of Tuesday/Thursday as I can to spend time with Esther.

The Tuesday/Thursday team made great progress today and they were planning on meeting tomorrow. Forgetting that the following Monday was a holiday for Edith Bowen Laboratory School, I thought we would catch up with them next week. It wasn't until after the meeting that I realized my oversight.

FLL or VEX IQ Challenge

Today was the first day getting the EBLS students together and sorted into Lego and VEX IQ. Fortunately Esther seemed OK with going either way, because it seemed that the First Lego League (FLL) coaching was covered by a USU student and a parent. Eric's son was also fine with doing VEX so we both went that direction.

Your child has been chosen to participate

And so it begins. Here is the email sent out to a number of families. The emphasis of specific parts is mine.

Dear EBLS Parents,
Your child has been chosen to participate on a school sponsored  Robotics Team.  This is an exciting opportunity to learn about STEM related fields.
As a result of being on this team, your child will be asked to commit to working with team members during after school hours and participating in a robotics competition on weekends.  It is important that you understand the need for your child to attend as much as possible and to let the coach know if there is a need for your child to be gone.
Our first meeting will be tomorrow, Wednesday, November 19th at 3:30 in Mrs. Kyriopoulos's classroom (room 219). Please discuss with your child and determine a preference for Vex or Lego's. Your child will need to state this preference at our meeting tomorrow. Your child was given  a document for your signature that is required to be returned to Mrs. Kyriopoulos before participating on the Robotics Team.
Once again, your child is to  congratulated for being selected to participate on a Robotics Team. Please direct questions to Mrs. Joan Kyriopoulos at (removed, see your email)

Coaches Meeting

Today's meeting was a little bit of  spill over from last week, but the focus was on committing volunteer robotics coaches for Lego and VEX teams and getting the organization of those teams started.

Mr. Johnson, Director of the school, expressed his support and excitement about the opportunity available to students through these systems. The school was going to have one FLL and two VEX IQ teams and the lines were drawn a little more formally on who was going to be coaching what team. The pickings were slim though. There were maybe 5-6 parents there and only a couple that could commit to 3:30 pm on weekdays. It's a tough to meet during normal business hours with a full-time job.

We also had a tentative schedule to meet after school on Mondays and Wednesday at 3:30 pm, with a request for morning times and some concern raised about conflicts those days. The final decision would be made as we met with the students on Wednesday.

VEX IQ Firmware Updates

I finished building the VEX IQ robot base in record time. At least I expect it was a record for taking so long. I ended up rebuilding a few parts because I incorrectly guessed at the length of the axles used. (edit: Again, it would have been much faster if I had realized the poster cross referenced the part numbers.) Once it was together and all charged up, it was time for a test drive. The VEX IQ computer ("brain") had a built-in Driver Control program so I could try it from the remote right away.

Trouble! One set of wheels went the right way when I pressed the stick forward but the other set went the opposite way. Perfect if you are trying to spin in circles. I thought I would have to rebuild again but as I looked at the steps I couldn't figure out what I could have done wrong.

Reading some I decided to try a firmware update in case it wasn't me but a bug in the software. Voila! After the updates both sides went the same direction when I pressed forward on the two control sticks.

Vexed building VEX IQ

I spent a half an hour this morning attempting to build the robot base to see how involved it is. I may be underestimating the skills of the grade school kids involved, but I think VEX can still learn a lot from LEGO on how to give good building instructions. In thirty minutes I only accomplished three steps using a total of under a dozen parts. Most of the time was spent wondering which of several similar looking parts they were talking about. (edit: Much later I found out from a forum that the big poster I had ignored had all the parts on it. That helped a ton, but my Lego comment still stands.)

I don't want to sound negative against VEX IQ. I think the remote control robot, like a radio controlled vehicle, is an aspect that most people can latch onto. I think that with better labeling of parts than the bags and instructions initially give and careful handling (there are a few bags of tiny parts) it can be accomplished, but it may take more careful supervision of a smaller groups of 3rd graders to do VEX IQ than with LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3. This unfortunately seems at odds with the age limits of FLL vs VEX.

I could see a completed LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 or (especially) VEX IQ bot being introduced to the after school club kids to interact with in a controlled way, but I wouldn't recommend allowing much contact with the competition team's robots until after the season is over.

USU VEX club observations

Ethan and I went to USU to observe the VEX club that meets on campus.  They have three teams of about four boys each working with the VEX EDR classroom robotics platform (the ones that look like they are made from an Erector Set). The USU student who was there gave me some background and explained how they are running things.

The three teams are a mix of experienced members and new members, but they are careful to watch for balance. If they have kinds that are too advanced they can work quickly and the less experienced members sit out not really catching on to what is happening. Even with the younger team I watched, three boys sat around disengaged while the technical expert tried to resolve an issue with their computer and programming software interfacing with the system. One of the other two groups looked fully involved and another had one person, sometimes two, disengaged while they waited for the other two to work with the robot. This lets me see in action the practical upper limits of team sizes. If you had ten people on a team, 8 may be disengaged most of the time without a lot of creativity and supervision. Four seemed ideal with six probably being the upper limit.