Fox Valley build robots to compete in ‘Round Up’ tourney Saturday
Daily Herald Report
Fox Valley area teams will compete with their robots in the VEX “Round Up” Competition from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12, at Rotolo Middle School, 1501 S. Raddant Road, Batavia. Teams apply creativity and engineering to solve the competition.
More than 36 teams from around the Midwest will be coming to Batavia to compete for a chance to move on to the world competition in April.
Designed for students ages 12 and older, the VEX Robotics Competition is a small team robotics program that requires kids to build a robot using a Vex Robotics Design System kit. It begins with the release of the annual game usually in the summer. Teams of students will design, build, program, test, and trouble-shoot a robot to perform the tasks of the game.
Round Up is played on a 12- by 12-foot square field. Two alliances, one “red” and one “blue” — composed of two teams each — compete in each match which consists of a 20-second autonomous period followed by 2 minutes of driver-controlled play.
The object of the game is to attain a higher score than your opponent alliance by placing tubes upon goal posts, owning goal posts, and by low hanging or high hanging from the ladder. A bonus is awarded to the alliance that has the most total points at the end of the Autonomous Period.
There are a total of 40 — 20 red and 20 blue — tubes available as scoring objects in the game. Thirty-six of the tubes will start at designated locations on the field; while two will be available to each alliance before the match.
Each robot (no larger than 18-by-18-by-18 inches to start) begins a match on one of their colored alliance tiles. There are nine goal posts, five of which are attached to movable weighted bases, which teams can score tubes on. Alliances earn extra points for owning a goal post by scoring more tubes on the goal post than their opponents.
At the center of the field is a 36-inch high structure known as the ladder that teams can climb or hang from for additional points. Robots earn different point values for being at least 6 inches (low hanging) or 18 inches (high hanging) off the ground.
VEX anticipates its biggest season ever, with more than 2,600 teams worldwide competing in hundreds of qualifying events and championship tournaments. Teams will also have the opportunity to participate at the World Championship in April at Disney World. To learn more, visit foxvalleyrobotics.com.
Innovation First International and its subsidiaries VEX Robotics Inc., RackSolutions Inc., and Innovation First Labs Inc. are leaders in designing and supplying control systems to the largest educational robotics competitions worldwide. The VEX Robotics Design System is the leading classroom robotics platform designed to nurture creative advancement in robotics and knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math education. Visit vexrobotics.com/competition/vex-robotics-competition.
Batavia Robotics is a nonprofit organization which has been around the area since 2002. In 2007 to offer the program and incorporate kids from multiple communities, the name of Fox Valley Robotics was added. Today, more than 60 kids participate in three divisions of robotics. The LegoDogs Division is for fifth- to eighth-graders and they build Lego robots. The Coyotes Division of eighth- to 12th-graders participate in both VEX and FTC robotics and build a steel/aluminum robot with dimensions not to exceed 18 inches. The Wolves Division of 10th-12th graders build a large robot 30-by-30-by-60 inches to compete with five other robots on a large playing field.
For more information about the organization, visit either bataviarobotics.com or foxvalleyrobotics.com.