Servo - August 2010

Using a VEX Controller

By Daniel Ramirez

VEX Robotics Design System Projects

Twenty-first century scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and medical researchers need the mathematical, analytical, problem-solving, and science skills that can be developed by engaging in creative robotics projects and contests in the same way that engineers of the early 20th century used mechanical construction kits (such as the popular Gilbert Erector Set and Meccano Erector Set) to expand their knowledge. It is no surprise that students in high school who participated in robotics contests show dramatic improvement in their math and science skills.

One area that has been neglected over the years is the electronics field that once helped to make the US the leader in electronics, computers, and consumer devices such as telephones, TVs, and radios in the 20th century. Now that lead has dramatically eroded due in part to globalization but also due to the lack of course curriculum provided by public and private schools in the US. Electronics courses are generally not available to secondary and high school students.

About the only exposure to electrical theory is in Physics classes. It’s really at the college or university level that students can study electronics if they choose. Most students who learn electronics from an early age are either self-taught or have parents in the electronic field that provide assistance to them. Other resources include DIY electronics projects published in magazines such as

Nuts & Volts and SERVO Magazine.

The VEX construction system (which is similar to the Gilbert and Meccano erector sets) is now widely used by both elementary and high school level students who compete regularly in national comptetions like the VEX Robotics Contest and FIRST. These contests have brought together international students from Canada, China, Mexico, Brazil, and other countries from around the world. The VEX microcontroller provides the motor control and

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also provides feedback from various sensors including bumper switches, limit switches, sonar rangers, IR rangers, and quadrature optical encoders for VEX-based robots. One only has to go to the VEX forum ( www.vexforum.com) and the VEX Gallery ( www.vexforum.com/gallery/ index.php) to see the hundreds of models featured. Other independent VEX forums exist such as www.vexfan.com, which I highly recommend since they also have many models as examples.

The VEX microcontroller is the “silicon brain” that makes an excellent, low cost learning platform that can be used for carrying out both analog and digital electronic experiments, as well as ones for science, robotics, and animatronics (as I have tried to demonstrate in the last three articles). It can be used with the original VEX starter kit, the Vexplorer kit, and additional new kits that IFI now sells. These include educational classroom bundles, along with various robot accessories and contest props.