What is the Vex Robotics Kit?
The Vex Robotics Design System, available from http://www.vexrobotics.com, is a build-it-yourself robot creation kit. Like an electric erector set, you need some batteries, some imagination, and a desire to build. The results will be a functional robot you can control with a wireless radio transmitter (like a remote-controlled car). With upgrades to the basic kit, you can add more features, parts, abilities, and even the ability to program the robot, allowing it to interact with the world on its own. The excellent Vex manual provides you with instructions on how to build a basic robot, capable of movement and collision detection. The three shots below are a slightly-modified version of that robot. Examining the components: The battery pack is the blue box on top of the unit. The radio receiver is the smaller yellow box beside the battery pack. The red and gray buttons on the front and back ends are collision detectors: If the robot bumps into something, it stops the wheels from turning
