Skills USA -Urban Search & Rescue
(VEX) - Robots

Overview:

For the 2021-2022 school year, we are using our Vex Robot platforms in the SkillsUSA Urban Search & Rescue competition. While there is a VEX competition, and while we will have links below to the Vex site, we are not competing in the Vex annual challenge.

The Robot platforms, are designed to solve the challenge of navigation a series of up and down ramps, opening doors, and opening 4 mail boxes.  The object of the challenge is to find 2 small bloc's, retrieve them and return them to the "bucket" under the specified time.  the Team with the fastest time wins the driving competition.  There is also a presentation interview portion and a technical logbook section.  all points will be combined to select the winner.

Robotics: Urban Search and Rescue

A two-member team builds a robot and arm mechanism prior to the competition and then, during the competition, remotely operates the robot. The robot should be capable of locating, grabbing and moving simulated ordinances on the challenge course. This remotely operated vehicle (ROV) must traverse the course, locate the ordinances, secure them and properly dispose of them. Each team will perform one round of competition consisting of a time limited mission to locate and dispose of two ordinances. 

SVCTE 2023-2024 Mechatronics Engineering Team Resources

Links to Vex Robot AM, PM teams blog pages, and general Vex links useful to all the teams. (Where did the Robot names come from?)

• Huey - Bukhari & Charley (PM 2023-2024)

• Dewey - Alexander & Jonah (PM 2023-2024) 

• Louie - Yash and Peter ( Nguyen) (AM - 2023-2024)

• Freeman Lowell - Joshua and Kevin (PM - 2023-2024) 

• Valley Forge - Diego & Damian (PM 2023-2024) 

• Saturn's Rings - Azaria & Tae (PM 2023-2024) 

• Sequoia - Anthony &  Anirudh (AM - 2023-2024) 

Urban Search & Rescue - Skills USA - Rules and Regulations:

• RoboticsUrbanSearchandRescue2021  Rules & Guidelines

Urban Search & Rescue - Skills USA - Dates:

• January 22, 2022 - The resume must be submitted by January 22, 2022 

• January 22, 2022 by 5 PM - Contestants will complete the challenge live on their school campus and submit a video of the challenge to SkillsUSA CA via the Google Form provided by January 22, 2022 by 5 PM. The competition must be filmed prior to the submission deadline.

• January 22, 2022 by 5 PM - The Engineering Notebook will be submitted for judging on January 22, 2022 via the SkillsUSA Google Form provided

Specifications on Urban Search & Rescue Robot Components

• WiFi Cameras

• Batteries

Links to Urban Search & Rescue Resources and Other Clubs

• Tennessee 2015 Team FP View - Want to see what the driver of a SkillsUSA Robotics: Urban Search & Rescue robot sees? This on-board camera video of the Tennessee team's run at the 2015 National SkillsUSA conference does just that. The team, comprised of Jonathan Gibson and Savannah Bradburn, placed second at the national event. Courtesy of Advisor Sam Warwick. 

• SkillsUSA California: Robotics Urban Search and Rescue - Multiple robots from the California SkillsUSA Robotics: Urban Search and Rescue in San Diego, California 

• SkillsUSA Virginia: Robotics: Urban Search and Rescue 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqzNTdflhKk - another arena at 2015 skills.  Long, but has commentatry about each robot

More Random Urban Search & Rescue Resources

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifnJvi1kqjw - Has some robot teams information at the end

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqTcrqSd0e8

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDvcfcSLqLo - interesting field.  have to turn on the 2x2 space to get access to the mail box

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He6nA6pJR8M - cool challenges to get access to the filed. 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8O577fjG6c

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ues4m8yQgz0 - "How not to drive at Skillsusa Urban search and rescue 2018"

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqzNTdflhKk - another arena at 2015 skills

Vex V5 Resources:

• Vex V5 Resources (Newer Bots) - Check to see what programming tools are recommended... maybe a Vex Coding Studio.

  • V5 Clawbot Build Instructions

  • Vex V5 Drawing Lab

• RobotC Resources

  • Vex VCode Download Page

  • RobotC User Guides and Resources 

  • 
    

Vex V5 Coding Resources:

• VexCODE - VexCode V5 & VexCOde Pro V5  <-- Vex official V5 programming tools. Not sure what the difference between V5 and Pro V5 is?

• Purdue PROS - https://pros.cs.purdue.edu/ <-- (Looks a little like Visual Studio) PROS is a lightweight and fast alternative open source operating system for VEX EDR Microcontrollers. It features multitasking, low-level control, and Wiring compatible functions to harness the full power of the Cortex. PROS is built with developers in mind and with a focus on providing an environment for industry-applicable experience.

• Robot Mesh - https://www.robotmesh.com/studio <-- Another browser based IDE for Cortex

• Vex VCode Download Page

Vex Cortex Resources:

• Vex Cortex Resources:

  • Vex Build Instructions

    • VEX ARM® Cortex®-based Microcontrollerand VEXnet Joystick User Guide

    • Debugging Flow Chart

    • ClawBot Instructions

    • Build and Programming Video Guide - Vex Cortex Robot - Unboxing, Building, and How to Code the robot. - Youtube

  • Vex Cortex Programming Instructions

    • Vex Cortex Programming 1 - YouTube

    • Maybe a good set of build and programming videos- 2020 VEX & RobotC Tutorials  - YouTube

    • Introduction to Programming VEX Robotics in RobotC - YouTube

    • VEX Forum Answer - Restoring Default Code

    • RoboMatters Forum - How to view/edit default Cortex code

• Vex V5 Resources (Newer Bots) - Check to see what programming tools are recommended... maybe a Vex Coding Studio.

  • V5 Clawbot Build Instructions

  • Vex V5 Drawing Lab

Vex Cortex Coding Resources:

• RobotC - ROBOTC for VEX Robotics 4.x (VEX Cortex & VEX IQ) <-- Vex official Cortex programming tools

  • RobotC User Guides and Resources 

• Purdue PROS - https://pros.cs.purdue.edu/ <-- (Looks a little like Visual Studio) PROS is a lightweight and fast alternative open source operating system for VEX EDR Microcontrollers. It features multitasking, low-level control, and Wiring compatible functions to harness the full power of the Cortex. PROS is built with developers in mind and with a focus on providing an environment for industry-applicable experience.

• Robot Mesh - https://www.robotmesh.com/studio <-- Another browser based IDE for Cortex

• Vex VCode Download Page

Other Sites:

• Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy

  • Transitioning from ROBOTC to VEX Coding Studio - Week 1

Lesson, Lectures. Labs

Random Stuff To Sort

• Old Links to Blog - Huey

• Old Links to Blog - Dewey

• Old Links to Blog - Louie

• Old Links to Bolg - Freeman Lowel

• Old Links to Blog - Valley Forge  

• Old Links to Blog - Saturn's Rings

• https://www.ready-robotics.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=phrase_only_q4&utm_campaign=11342425901&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=472230495042&utm_term=robot%20programming&adgroupid=110819486853&gclid=CjwKCAjwvuGJBhB1EiwACU1AidPSjtVchbRoBnNm8QHI9P9wZEA_H-Ggn9cyYoFy6XBwYx50i-531hoC_H8QAvD_BwE

• https://www.skillsusa.org/competitions/skillsusa-championships/

• https://www.vexrobotics.com/vexcode

•  https://www.skillsusa.org/competitions/skillsusa-championships/contest-descriptions/ (Links to an external site.) 

• https://pros.cs.purdue.edu/v5/okapi/tutorials/walkthrough/clawbot.html (Links to an external site.) 

• https://www.vexrobotics.com/vexcode-pro

Teachers - Unit, Module and Lesson Plans

SVCTE Mechatronics Engineering Team Resources

Links to Vex Robot AM, PM teams blog pages, and general Vex links useful to all the teams. (Where did the Robot names come from?)

• Huey - Mia Trinh and Alex Garcia (PM)

• Dewey - Ash Sanjeev, Jessica Yao (AM)

• Louie - Landon Phan, Tyler Huynh (AM)

• Freeman Lowell - Dylan Castro, Emily Jang (AM)

• Valley Forge - Vineet Vinod and Duy Bui (PM)

• Saturn's Rings - Kenneth Gentry, Hayden Melius  (AM)

• Berkshire - Brian Nguyen, Loc Pham (AM)

• Sequoia - Elizabeth Borrayo, Yusif Bahlool (PM)