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3. VEX Robotics Engineering CAD Challenge

Professionals and students both use CAD to design everything from mechanical components to complex systems to competition robots. The VEX design system is designed using CAD, and students design their robots using CAD models of VEX parts.

 

Prizes

• 1st: $750 vexrobotics.com gift certificate and automatic team qualification for the 2015 VEX Robotics World Championship if the entrant is part of a registered VRC team
• 2nd: $500 verobotics.com gift certificate
• 3rd: $250 vexrobotics.com gift certificate

Requirements

Overview

Professionals and students both use CAD to design everything from mechanical components to complex systems to competition robots. The VEX design system is designed using CAD, and students design their robots using CAD models of VEX parts.

In the VEX Robotics Engineering CAD Challenge, participants will use CAD to design their own VEX part or parts, and then use those parts in a complete VEX robot design. Use CAD design software to create a new VEX part and then design a robot or robotically-controlled machine that uses the new part in as a significant component. The robot may be a VEX competition robot, a robot that does some other interesting task or a smaller-scale model of a larger machine.

You may use any CAD software for this challenge.

Eligibility

• This contest is open to students anywhere in the world currently registered in an educational institution at the middle school or high school level, or to home schooled students not enrolled in college or university classes up to 18 years old.
• Designs submitted in previous Online Challenges are not eligible for submission this year.

Requirements

These are the minimum requirements for this challenge. The “Evaluation” section below will provide additional guidance on how your project will be judged. Failure to fulfill any of these requirements may result in your entry being disqualified from advancing to Finalist or Winner status.

• Use CAD software to design one or more new VEX EDR or VEX IQ parts.
• Design a robot or robotically-controlled machine which incorporates your new part or parts.

Write a brief description, no more than 500 words long. This should:

• Explain how the new part(s) would be used and how it fits with other VEX parts.
• Explain how you used CAD software as part of the process you followed to create your new part(s).
• Document the design process of your new part(s) using three or four images or drawings that show your progress from storyboard to finished design, using PNG, JPEG, GIF or PDF files.
• Provide images or drawings of your design include the following:
  • Completed Part Design – Two or more images showing the part
  • Completed Robot Design – Two or more images that give the viewer a complete idea of how your robot is designed and will work
  • Assemblies – Two or more isometric images that give the viewer a complete idea of how the new part is used in your robot
• Produce a video up to 60 seconds long showing the design of your part and how it fits on a robot. This could be an animated presentation or it could be still shots with narration, captions, or some other means of informing the viewer about the design. Post this video on YouTube and provide a link to this video as part of your submission.

Judging

Judges will select ten finalists from the submitted entries, and will take community voting results into account in making their choices. The finalist submissions will then be judged by additional selected professionals whose scores will be combined with the preliminary-round judges’ scores to determine the winner of the CAD Design Challenge. VEX engineers will participate in judging this challenge.