VEX Elevation Practice

The April 29th meeting gave the Hawks a chance to see the Elevation competition field. We assembled the practice kit to prototype field elements (like cardboard goals) and sample game objectives.










With the field spread out in front of us, the rules started to make sense (like how to "own" a goal). It was our first time seriously reading through the Elevation manual and becoming familiar with all the rules & regulations of the VEX Robotics Competition.



The Protobot was upgraded. It's arm had a new claw installed to manipulate the 3" foam cubes. Design is an iterative process – we'll keep revising and improving our robot until it dominates the competition.









Using the items in the kit allowed a team to get a feel for the Elevation field (without actually possessing a $400 full playing field). We saw first-hand our robot’s stability and center-of-gravity, trying to grab cubes on the center platform with inclined ramps. Kudos to Kyle, as he got the protobot back on it's "feet."



As a new team, it was a walk-through for what to expect on tournament day in June at SECME Summer Institute. Next up: the Seminole SECME Hawks Teams will have a chance to test their robots and compete against each other.