VEX IQ Robotics

The VEX IQ Robotics Competition for elementary and middle school students is open to teams of two or more kids who build a robot to compete in local competitions. While it’s really exciting and fun, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed due to the open-endlessness, and that’s what we’re going to hep you with.

Every year, a new game is released (you can purchase the 2020-2021 game elements here), played on a 6 foot by 8 foot field. You’ll need a VEX IQ Super Kit, which contains all the pieces that you will need to snap together and build a robot for competition!

Here is the first step to building a competitive robot from your Super Kit to compete in a competition.

Great  job! You have now built half of your drive train. The video below will show you how to build the other half.

Now you have to halves of your drive train. Play the video below and learn how to connect them together, add on the brain, and pair your robot with your controller.

Congratulations! You have completed the Drive Base for your robot. Drive it around, learn how to control it, and come back to the next video when you are ready to add an arm and claw.

Your robot now has giant pieces sticking up from the front; the uprights for your arm! To learn how to attach some supporting members and a sensor along with some gears, click the video below.

In this next video you are going to learn how to put a rack on the back of your robot to store game objects when you are carrying them.

Now that you have your rear rack built and installed on your robot, it is time to build the arm and claw. The claw is great for picking up and moving objects around your house, or game elements from some VEX IQ challenges. Check out the video below to get started.

Now you have finished building the arm and claw, and you now have a completely built Clawbot! Now you need to learn how to control it, how to change settings on the brain, and some other quick tips on how to make your robot work even better.

Congratulations! You are now driving a complete Clawbot that can pick things up, move them around, and put things in the rear rack! Next, you are going to learn some arm and claw modifications to make your robot better for specifically the 2020-2021 VEX IQ Challenge: Rise Above.

You can buy the 2020-2021 game field and elements from the official VEX website here, or you can buy them here if you want free shipping.

Recommendations for Going Further

Want to learn more about how to build a better robot, and even compete in an online robotics competition?

Joseph’s VEX IQ Robotics

Ben’s: Robotics Channel

Great Minds Robotics

Batman

REC Foundation

VEX Robotics

Here are some good individual videos:

Video #1

Video #2

Here is a Chinese Event from last year:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Here is an intro video for VEX IQ

You can also go to HERE to find all the VEX EDR/V5, VEX IQ, and VEX U match video archives from nearly all the past World Championships.