Inventor’s Guide
Vex starter kit
getting started • 3
01/31/05
beginners
Build a Robot and Play a Simple Game
1
Review the basic safety instructions in Appendix A
Always work safely. Although the Vex robot and parts are not dangerous
under most circumstances, there are still safety precautions that you must
follow.
2
Begin by breaking your team into six groups, one for
each subsystem in the Vex system
If you don’t have a team, or there are not enough people to make six
groups, feel free to give multiple responsibilities to the same group or
person. It is often advantageous for individual team members to have
specialized knowledge of the different subsystems when working on the
robot together, but it is not unreasonable for one person to be able to
perform several or even all of the functions needed to work on the robot
at this point.
3
Build the Squarebot Chassis using the instructions in the
Inventor’s
Guide
At the beginning of the Structure Subsystem chapter, you will fi nd a list
of materials, a short introduction to the subsystem, and then building
instructions for the chassis of the Squarebot. The Structure and Motion
teams should pay special attention to this portion of the robot, but
everybody can help build it by collecting the parts and tools as they are
needed.
If desired, the non-chassis (Power, Sensor, Logic, and Control) teams
can work ahead and try to hook together their subsystems without
the chassis, and use the third Motor Module in the kit (which is not
needed for the Squarebot design) to test their setup. Teams may want
to remove and separate their respective sections of the Inventor’s Guide
temporarily while doing this, but any sections removed should be replaced
immediately afterward!
4
Combine the subsystems into the completed robot
Once you complete the chassis, the remaining subsystems (Power, Sensor,
Logic, and Control) can now turn to their respective chapters and use
those building instructions to attach their components to the basic
Squarebot chassis. This includes both physically attaching the subsystems
to the chassis and connecting the cables.
