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Our pal Tom from ROBOT magazine sent in this interesting news item regarding the VEX robots... -
"Revell Monogram LLC and Innovation First, Inc. announced today a global partnership for the design, marketing and distribution of the new Vex Robotics System, a product platform based on the award-winning original design developed in 2005.
In this partnership, Innovation First will be responsible for technical design, engineering development and manufacturing, while Revell will be responsible for the development of sales and marketing programs, channel strategies and distribution. IFI will maintain responsibility and control of all products and programs involved with the educational field, the FIRST Robotics competition, and other nonretail business ventures. " - Link.
I wonder if this means RadioShack isn't going to carry VEX any longer, they've been on clearance for awhile and all the parts/bots are "out of stock" in the online store.
Related:
From the pages of MAKE:
- The Vex Robotics Design System - Versatile, powerful design raises the bot in prefab robotics construction kits. Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition!
On Clearance at 40 - 60% off, they were a little pricey, but close enough to warrant a little splurging. I bought a few kits and my 5 year old son and I started building with them. The first afternoon, in 3 - 4 hours we had the nice little squarebot done. Using squarebot as a model or foundation, you can easily move on to more advanced robots. By the time we'd invested about 7 hours (over the course of a couple weekends) we'd finished our third bot named flip, the robot who could drive upside down.
We've also built a newer robot designed for speed. No video of him yet, I can't remember what we named him, but he can do wheelies and turn on a dime. Our next bot will incorporate some kind of projectile. My son suggested "king kong balls" (remember, he's 5).
These kits are extremely high quality and well engineered. Everything fits together without worry or hassle.
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Just as a follow-up to what you posted, Radio Shack sold the rights to the VEX system to Innovation First a few months back. Innovation First (IFI) is a startup that originally created robot control systems for the FIRST Robotics Competition (www.usfirst.org) which I've been apart of for the past 5 years. According to my understanding from the few people I know that work on the VEX system at IFI, they designed pretty much everything for the original system as well as the accessories while Radio Shack did the marketing for that year or so. That means we probably won't be seeing those lovely sale prices like we did with Radio Shack again, but that future upgrades to the system such as this should remain as high-quality as the original system.
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How much does this robot cost?
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