Designer

As a Designer for a VEX IQ Robotics Competition team, your role is to be the architect of the robot, which involves planning how it will move, interact with game pieces, and solve the challenges of the "Level Up" game.

1. The Student-Centered Requirement

The most important rule is that you must do the work.

• Student Ownership: You must be the one making the design decisions. While adults can teach you engineering concepts, they are not allowed to work on the design of the robot for you.

• Originality: Your design must represent your own skill level. You are encouraged to use VEX "Hero Bot" plans as a starting point, but you should eventually modify or replace them as you learn more.

• Avoiding "Copying": You shouldn't directly copy another team's robot. If you are inspired by another team's idea, you must document it in your notebook, give them credit, and show how you made meaningful changes to make the design your own.

2. Technical Design Constraints

Your robot must follow specific rules to pass inspection and be allowed to play:

• Starting Size: At the beginning of every match, the robot must fit within a volume of 11” wide x 20” long x 15” high.

• Expansion Limits (Horizontal): Once the match starts, the robot can expand horizontally, but it can never exceed an 11” x 24” footprint.

• Expansion Limits (Vertical): There is no limit to how high the robot can expand once the match begins.

• Motors and Brain: You are limited to using one VEX IQ Robot Brain and no more than six VEX IQ Smart Motors.

• Materials: You can only build using official VEX IQ products, with very few exceptions like specific rubber bands or 1/8” metal shafts from the VEX V5 line. 3D printed parts are not allowed.

• Safety: The design must not have sharp edges or mechanisms that could damage the field, the scoring objects, or other robots.

3. Designing for the "Level Up" Game

The specific challenges of this season should drive your design decisions:

• The One-Object Rule: Robots are limited to possessing or "plowing" only one Bean Bag at a time. Your design should focus on how to quickly grab, transport, and score a single object.

• Pathing Tradeoffs: The field has narrow shortcuts and long, open paths. You must decide if you want a smaller robot that can use shortcuts to save time, or a larger robot that might be more stable or easier to control.

• Scoring Targets: Points range from 1 point for the Floor Goal to 16 points for the L4 Goal. Your design should consider which goals you want to prioritize: scoring many objects quickly in lower goals, or taking more time to reach the high-value L4 goal.

• Loading: Since Bean Bags are introduced through the Load Zone, your robot needs a way to easily retrieve them from the floor in those specific areas.

• Easy Removal: You must design the robot so that Bean Bags can be easily removed by hand without needing power or a controller after a match is over.

• License Plates: The robot must have exactly two official license plates with your team number, mounted on opposing sides and clearly visible at all times.

4. Documentation

A designer’s job isn’t finished until the work is recorded.

• The Notebook: Work with your team’s Notebookers to document your design process, including your ideas, drawings, and any changes you made after testing.

• Explaining Your Work: You must be prepared to talk to judges and event staff to explain how your robot functions and why you made certain design choices.

By balancing these rules and strategies, you can design a robot that is both legal and highly competitive.