Prototyping and the Engineering Design Process

Students love working hands-on, and that’s exactly what this program is built around. We’ll take students through the same engineering design process used by real competitive robotics teams: brainstorming ideas, building prototypes, testing what works, fixing what doesn’t, and improving the design step by step. Students will learn how to turn a rough idea into a working robot mechanism, make intelligent design choices based on real data, and use prototyping to help them solve the VEX V5 challenge.

Building

We’ll cover the building skills that the best competitors use to build a robot that performs reliably in competition. Students will learn how to build robust drivetrains, tune consistent intakes, reduce friction to score faster, plan out mechanisms, mount electronics well, and make robots that are sturdy, serviceable, and competition-ready. Along the way, they’ll learn the little details experienced teams use to make robots cleaner, stronger, faster, and easier to fix.

Programming

We’ll cover the practical coding strategies VEX teams use in real competition, from simple block coding to advanced industry standard PID control loops, including introduction to error correction strategies like distance resets and odometry. Students will learn how to code driver control, tune autonomous movements, use sensors to improve consistency, and troubleshoot problems when the robot doesn’t behave the way they expected.

Strategy and Driving

We’ll cover the part of robotics that happens after the robot is built: how to actually win matches. Students will learn match strategy, how top teams communicate in the driver station, and breaking down a complex challenge into parts that can be solved with hard data. They'll learn the best drills to practice beforehand to ensure they can perform at their best at the competition.