Getting Started in Vex Robotics

Many people ask how can they can get their child involved in robotics. Here at Brandywine Robotics, we have two programs serving young roboteers from grade 4 through 12. In grades 3 through 6 we go through our VEX IQ  program. Grades 6 through 12 participate in the Vex Robotics competition (VRC). Students in grades 6 through 8 are in the Middle school division while grades 9 through 12 are in the high school division.   Until sixth grade, the level of building with tools and programming in C is typically a bit advanced for maturity level of the roboteer and ask you participate in FLL until that time.

The Vexmen is a parent run organization and each team of 4-5 roboteers needs at least two parent mentors per team. This means you! The Vexmen is not a drop your kid off kind of activity. Two mentors per team means a minimum 20% parent involvement per team. The base requirement to becoming a mentor is being able to tell your kids what to do. Only through your parental guidance will the kids be successful; no prior technical experience is required. If you can turn a screwdriver and measure with a tape measure, you can build a Vex robot; we will teach you the rest. Having an engineering or programming background is a plus, but not required by any means. The main job of the parent mentor is project management and guiding the students to stay on track to meet their goals of building a functional robot, gathering the needs for parts for the upcoming weeks, and keeping the kids motivated. We want a minimum of two mentors per team to help with child safety, ensuring no one wanders off, hurts themselves, or sits with nothing to do.