Who are the VEXMEN?
The Vexmen are roboteers! We are Vex Robotics division of Brandywine Robotics, a group of students, mentors and sponsors who know it’s important to get kids interested in S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) based careers. Using competition robotics we learn valuable life skills such as communications, planning, cooperation and negotiations. We also bring to life S.T.E.M. skills in areas of electronics, mechanics, pneumatics, programming, designing, building (and sometimes rebuilding), testing and driving robots.
Brandywine Robotics is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
We compete against each other as well as other clubs’ robots. We have students from five different schools in the Downingtown area as well as home schooled students building robots. We build individually as 34 different teams – each designing and building their own robots. We share space for building and share ideas teaching younger Vexmen how to build and program, but we compete against each other fiercely.
Middle School teams are under the Vexmen Team 80 and 90 banner, and the High School teams under the Vexmen Team 81 and 91 banner. Each robot has its own letter for identification corresponding to its character. Team Nightcrawler is Team 80N, team 81J is Juggernaut and so on. There are some of the same letters used in teams 80 and 81 so make sure you get the age group correct when picking an alliance partner.
Vex IQ are under Team 92 designation is for our IQ teams. Both Elementary and Middle School IQ Teams share the 92 banner.
In the VEX Robotics Competition Middle School students ages 10 to 14 compete in a Middle School division of teams while students ages 15 to 18 compete in a High School division. Vex allows students to design, build, program and compete with VEX kit robots against kids their own age. Working in teams of 3 to 6, learning basic construction and programming skills, teamwork and problem solving.
The Vex IQ competition is another platform offering from Vex where snap together pieces are used to create your robots faster. The problem solving is just as intense as VRC, it’s just a smaller package. The same great STEM learning happens with design, programming, and building. You just don’t have to cut any metal and the game play is slightly different. Unlike other smaller robot competitions, IQ allows kids to do what they want to do most – drive! IQ robots work cooperatively together on the field to score as many points in that year’s game. Teams are generally smaller in IQ from 2 to 4 roboteers.