The first VEX “Idea Factory” to be hosted in B.C. occurred this Saturday at Moscrop Secondary School in Burnaby. Roughly 100 students from across Metro Vancouver gathered along with teachers, team coaches, and community volunteers to get a “hands on” look at this year’s VEX Robotics Competition game “Gateway” and rules.
After presentations on the game, and workshops providing advice on how to get started, the students formed into teams, broke out the robot parts and started to build. Many teams left the workshop with a good head start towards building a robot capable of playing this year’s game.
The event was organized by the Pacific Youth Robotics Society. “This should really give the students a head start on the season.” explained PYRS President and veteran VEX tournament organizer, Lance Balcom, who feels that having the chance to get “hands on” with the game field and elements this early in the season will help teams formulate functional designs earlier than in previous years.