Vex Robotics

In all of high school, I particpated in Vex Robotics competitions. In fact, I started doing robotics since elementary, participating in FIRST’s FIRST Robotics Lego League (FLL). When I entered middle school, that is when I began participating in Vex Robotics, totaling about 6 years of experience in Vex Robotics, and 8 years overall if I were to count my time in elementary.

In this particular 2019 season, captured by the picture above, the name of the game was called “Tower Takeover.” The goal of this game was to build a robot that stack cubes in order to score points. My team was comprised of 4 people including myself, made up of 3 high school students, and 1 amazing mentor. On the team, my role was team captain. I was the lead designer/builder and main driver of the robot. Working with our mentor, we created and approved ideas for robot designs and improvements, whether to completely scrap a robot and start new or to rebuild certain mechanisms. Each season generally lasts 5 months, which meant 5 months of designing, building, redesigning, and rebuilding robots.

The skills I learned participating in Vex Robotics was invaluable. I learned how to work and collaborate in a team, be the leader of a team, design robots in CAD using Autodesk Inventor, program the robot in C++, and perform under pressure. When it comes to competitions, I learned it was much more important to collobrate and cooperate with other teams than treat them like enemies you want to defeat. In the long run, the friendships you build with other teams will propel you farther than you could ever imagine. This very statement applies a lot to the real world as well.

With 2019 being the last year I competed in robotics, I am proud of our team being able to always place top 10 in every competition and have a positive win-to-lose ratio. Although we never won an awards or a competition, it was an amazing experience.

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