We recently attended the VEX Robotics World Championship in Anahiem, California, and amazed at how great the event was for students participating. There was over 700 VEX teams out of more than 7,300 teams from 24 countries that qualified to compete at the 2013 Worlds Competition!  The excitement of the kids competiting in a friendly atmosphere was an inspiration for aspiring engineers. 

Competitors and spectators at the VEX Dome for opening ceremonies

Competitors getting ready to enter the Dome!

Full House at the VEX Dome!

The following is thanks to source: http://www.roboticseducation.org/news/

The global championship kicked-off on Wednesday and Thursday with initial qualification matches and skills challenges. On Friday morning, thousands of young engineers filed into the VEX Dome to participate in the opening ceremonies parade of nations, where each team proudly bore their respective countries’ brilliant flags. Following the parade, teams quickly transitioned to an afternoon full of intense back-to-back qualification matches. By Saturday, qualification rounds came to an end, the top performing teams went through the alliance selection process, and the division champion alliances collaborated to advance over their toughest competition yet in the finals. Entertainment attractions including the UCLA marching band and Light Force – an explosive hi-tech rhythmic drumming troupe, elevated the evening during the final competitions, guiding teams and spectators through the award ceremonies.

Altogether, more than 700 VEX teams out of more than 7,300 teams worldwide qualified to compete in one of four challenges hosted by the REC Foundation this past weekend. The competitions included: VEX IQ Challenge World Championship (ages 8-14 year olds), VRC Middle School World Championship (ages 11-14), VRC High School World Championship (ages 15-18) and the VEX U (ages18+).

The 2013 VEX Robotics World Championship Alliance Winners are as follows:

• The VEX IQ Challenge Teamwork Champions (Note – two alliances tied in the final match, resulting in a tie for Teamwork Champion). Champions included Team 44, Top Secret from Maddison Middle School in Rexburg, Idaho; Team 37, Rocky Mountain πrates from Friends School in Boulder, Colo.; Team 42, Annihilation=MG^2 from Community in Loveland, Colo.; Team 3018P, Techna Pawns from Techna PWN Robotics, in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
• The VRC Middle School World Champion Winning Alliance was Team 8065B, FT5 from Singapore Combined School in Singapore; Team 8192D, Shanghai Huangpu from Shanghai Huangpu Teenagers S&T Activity Center in Shanghai, China; and Team 7792A, Shishi Middle School A from Chengdu Shishi Middle School in Chengdu, China.

• The VRC High School World Champion Winning Alliance was Team 2625, Tech-Know Commandos from Worcester Technical High School in Worcester, Mass.; Team 2915A, Lynfield Jack Attack from Lynfield College in Auckland, New Zealand; and Team 2941D, Oats Robotics from Otumoetai College in Tauranga, New Zealand.

• The VEX U World Champion was Team TCAN1, UTCA from Universidad Tecnologica De Cancun in Cancun, Mexico.

“My team and I have been tweaking our robot since this time last year, trying to perfect and execute it as efficiently as possible and drive up our score against some of our toughest competitors,” said Jason McKinney from Team 2625, Tech-Know Commandos, part of the VEX Robotics High School Championship Winning Alliance from Worcester Technical High School in Worcester, Mass. “VEX has helped me realize my true potential and see exactly what we are able to accomplish as a team if we put all our effort into a common goal. I am absolutely overwhelmed with joy and exhaustion,” continued Jason.

Team 5225A, the E-Bots Pilons, from Oakville, Ontario, Canada, was presented with the overall VRC World Championship Excellence Award, the highest honor in the VEX Robotics Competition, given to the team with the most well-rounded VEX Robotics program. Team NAR, North American Robotics, from Philadelphia, Pa. was presented with the VEX U World Championship Excellence Award. Team 37, Rocky Mountain πrates, from Friends School, in Boulder, Colo. received the VEX IQ Challenge Elementary School Excellence Award. Team 30, Gears and Geeks, from Newhart Middle School, in Mission Viejo, Calif. received the VEX IQ Challenge Middle School Excellence Award.

This Blog is brought to you by the iDESIGN Solutions Team.  We hope to see you next year at the VEX 2014 World Championships.

I went to visit my family and brought along some 3d printed models this time, thinking that my Grampa and dear old Dad would like to see it. My grandfather just shook his head with a smile on his face. The changes he’s seen in his life, I can’t fathom. He grew up on a farm and knew horses to be the first mode of transportation. He’s told me about the old cars, and imparted much of his knowledge of building and masonry upon me, so now when I showed him the 3d prints and the software we create them from, I don’t think he’s surprised at what we can do…he just wonders ‘what will they think of next?’.

My dad on the other hand, being from the millwright background spent a lot of time machining and tooling. Once in awhile I’ll show him something in Revit Architecture, or Inventor. What the software can do these days in minutes or seconds, was hours of laborious mechanical or architectural drafting in the past. When I showed him the moving assemblies, that come out of the 3d printer fully intact and functional….well….I honestly hadn’t seen him so excited since… I can’t really think of another time he was that sort of excited. Anyway, to make a long story short, he was really quite impressed and as I turned the gears of the 3d model in my hand, I could see his eyes lit up and the gears in his head were turning a mile a minute…and he was grinning from ear to ear.

I left him with a couple parts I’d printed off to show some of his colleagues. Among them are mechanical and industrial engineers who he told me are typically pretty stoic, at least about up and coming technology. He told me he had the parts on his desk, and while he was in the middle of a phone call (which I’m sure was pretty important), two of them came scrambling into his office, one grabbing the part to show the other like two kids in a toy store with Christmas around the corner. I find it amusing to imagine my father, who’s typically pretty stoic himself, trying to shoo two grown men out of his office while he’s on the phone.

The point I’m trying to make here is three generations of my family have been involved in building or design, or both and I think where we’re going very soon is into a new age of creativity. The Industrial Age brought us machines that could be used to mass produce, to use less brawn and more physics to achieve better and bigger results. Into the Information Age, the machines from the past became controlled at a micro level with computers that got smaller and smaller, design became easier with CAD and more could be explored, but it left us only with a virtual product until the moment of truth. Now…with the evolution of CAD and BIM software, as well as the advent of 3d printing, mistakes aren’t only less costly but they can be minimized or maybe even eliminated completely. Design options can be explored more thoroughly because prototyping can take place in your office….or if you’re real enthusiastic, maybe in your garage or workshop in the basement.

3D printing will be the next big technology game changer. Already people have printed responsive living tissue so it will have dramatic effects on the medical industry. Architects can take the models they already need to create and have 3d models printed in a fraction of the time it took to create models the old fashioned way. Engineers can prototype products and actually field test them, before ever spending a dime on expensive tooling and mold processes. 3D printing though hasn’t stopped in the practical realm either. Those more aesthetically minded use the technology to create beautiful jewellery, artists use it to create game characters or props for movies. I’m sure most of you reading this are aware of the topic, the technology and how fast it is becoming a hot topic in many households, but I want everyone reading this to remember the first computer they ever used. Then remember the first time you ever printed something from your screen onto a piece of paper. I remember mine quite clearly. It was a banner, and it seemed to take forever on that old Dot Matrix! Now ask yourself “How long before there’s a 3d printer in every home?” The answer is not long….and let me tell you why.

Whether you are a multi million dollar corporation, or a passionate hobbyist, there is a 3d print solution for you. At iDESIGN Solutions, we offer a number of different 3d print products such as the affordable and easy to use uPrint, the Mojo, or the incredibly accurate Stratasys Desktop Series. So…if you’re interested in taking the next step and joining the Creation Age, give us a call and we can see what’s the best choice for you. Or, if you just want to keep up to date with this great new technology, subscribe to our blog, or come follow us on Twitter or Facebook. We hope you enjoy this new technological revolution as much as we are!

Thanks for reading!

Travis Van Clieaf

iDESIGN Solutions proudly received the BCIT VEX Robotics Season Sponsor award.

We’ve been working closely with post-secondary institutions like BCIT now for the past 12 years. Seeing young faces light up in the  competitive spirit and knowing we have a part in these bright futures is a reward in itself, but we really appreciate this recognition in our efforts to promote robotics and engineering to today’s youth.

The iDESIGN Solutions team, we’d like to thank you, our customers and followers, and BCIT for this honour and beautiful award!

A lot of people ask me, ‘Travis, how would you go about bringing this Autodesk software into the classroom?’ or ‘What are the best resources available?’ We get asked about what software is being used in the industry today, and what is the best way to implement STEM based education in their schools.

The answer is pretty simple. The Autodesk Education Community.

I personally put a lot of faith in Autodesk’s ability to provide the best learning resources for their software. Of course you can buy books that are specific to your class or industry, and maybe you have a lesson that you use to teach the fundamentals of drafting. You may feel that teaching 2D concepts is the only way to start, but we as educators must always remember who our students are. They are exposed to a very digital, 3d world. If I trained educators in the exact same way that I may go about teaching a 15 year old, I might find myself with a lab full confused looks.

“Why is he talking about video games?”  ”What does this have to do with the new Iron Man suit?” If I can’t stay relative to their world view, how can I hope to teach anyone anything?

We all learn differently, and primarily, I find the difference is which generation you come from. Do you come from one that grew up on books…and interpersonal training, or have you done all your research from online resources? These bright young minds in school today are slightly different. If they need the answer to something, they can simply Google it on their hand held device and there it is, some form of an answer. What they understand from being exposed to a new, online and digital era is quite a lot more than what we often give them credit for. That’s why we have to understand who we are educating, and make sure we’re not wasting our own time, and theirs. In efforts to NOT reinvent the wheel, but help develop a better one, I urge you to visit the Autodesk Education Community…and then visit it again…and again and again and again!

What’s quite incredible about the Autodesk Education Community is it is exactly that. A community. Educators and learners alike can register, and gain access to not only the same commercial software used by architects and engineers, animators and visual effects artist; but they can use the project based learning activities to excite their minds and keep them engaged. There are curriculums for these different streams of learning, projects already pre-defined, so you don’t have to learn the software before you start a project, that’s what the projects are for.

Now, it’s not a complete generation gap. I remember myself fidgeting in class as summer grew closer and the weather outside seemed a lot more fitting for riding my bike and playing baseball with my friends. Arithmetic and English classes…and yes…even technology didn’t seem as important as fresh air, laughter and avoiding sun burn. But at that time, noooobody had a cell phone, much less a smart one! Internet was still dial up, and incredibly slow. You could probably check out an encyclopedia from the library quicker. The fact remains static that if someone isn’t interested…they will not learn. You may get a correct answer from them, but it’s only because it’s expected. A year later, if they did not care for the subject, they will have forgotten.

We must always stay engaged. This means we are students alongside our students. We must never stop learning. Now more than ever before, we must be a part of the positive change, a movement. It’s not just building a house. It’s designing and building a house that is energy efficient, and has low environmental impact. It’s designing a product from recycled material, or at least material that can be obtained locally to diminish carbon footprint.

The Autodesk Education Community provides a resource and a community to support people already in this movement. When we have young minds apply what they’ve learned, or challenge them to think around corners to find a solution, the ingenuity that is revealed is nothing short of astounding. You can ask a question of a student a year later and the student will wistfully tell you about the great time they had developing a VEX Robot that met the challenge proposed, and how they exceeded expectations with their team efforts.

I was recently at a VEX Robotics competition here in Toronto. I asked a team of young ladies and gentlemen about their thoughts on the VEX Robotics tournaments. I was overwhelmed by how serious they took it. They were so mature and professional…I think it’s because they were engaged and competitive. I think as we get older, we look at our younger selves and the students that remind us of them as though we had no worries or no real concerns, that nobody really asked much of us, just that we show up. But we do ask a lot, we ask for their attention and their time, and these two things are more precious and important than anything else. Speaking to these four competitors made me remember every year of my life counted, and I was just as passionate back then at their age as I am now.

So now that I’ve passionately given you my thoughts on learning/teaching, take a minute and visit the Education Community by clicking here. It’s a great place to hang out.

Teacher’s looking for great projects and learning resources will do well to also visit the Digital STEAM Workshop as well by clicking here. Of course these websites have been under development for quite some time and there is content in abundance. If you’re looking for something specific and can’t find it, please let us know. We’re here to help you in your process.

We can be reached through our YouTube channel, Twitter or Facebook pages, or you can email us at support@idesignsol.com 

Happy learning everybody, and thanks again for reading!

~ Travis Van Clieaf

Latest Headlines Support VEX Robotics Growth in Education!

Northrop Grumman Foundation provides $2 million grant to support VEX Robotics Competition expansion in new locations worldwide.

The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation and the Northrop Grumman Foundation today announced a partnership to establish 200 new VEX Robotics Competition teams in locations worldwide and support the program’s outreach. In addition, the partnership will support the VEX Robotics Competition World Championship in Anaheim, Calif., April 17-20, an event that will attract more than 700 teams and 15,000 students for three days of robotics engineering competition.

“Our partnership with the Northrop Grumman Foundation illustrates our shared objective to advance student interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics [STEM] through accessible hands-on robotics engineering programs,” said Jason Morrella, president, REC Foundation. “We are grateful to the Northrop Grumman Foundation for its support and commitment to STEM, and we look forward to expanding our reach to students and schools in need across the United States and internationally.”

Link to full story: http://www.roboticseducation.org/news/

Cedar Fair Entertainment Teams Up With Robotics Education & Competition Foundation to Host Local VEX Robotics Competition

The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation is pleased to announce a partnership with Cedar Fair Entertainment Company to host the first annual VEX Robotics Competition California State Championship at California’s Great America amusement park in Santa Clara, CA on March 16, 2013. The event will attract more than 50 of the top middle and high school robotics teams from around the state for a full day of robotics matches sponsored locally by the Northrop Grumman Foundation, Chevron, and the Future Foundation.

The REC Foundation’s programs are on target to grow by over 30 percent this year and in order to accommodate the growth the Foundation expects to add a number of state events in the coming year, offering students more opportunities to compete locally and save on travel costs for competition. Currently, the VEX Robotics Competition is comprised of more than 7,000 teams from across the U.S. and internationally with 425 of those teams based in California.

Link to full story: http://www.roboticseducation.org/news/

For more information on how you can start innovating in your classroom, call us at 1.877.730.4770 or email sales@idesignsol.com

The individual projects at the Autodesk Digital STEAM curriculum website are ideal for students who have built up their knowledge and skills in the design process and the use of Autodesk software.

If you are ready for a challenge, after completing Level 1 and 2, then the Level 3 individual projects are just what you need to further your abilities. The individual projects offer you up to 90 hours per project to complete on your own, or as a student team.

Today, we’re highlighting the VEX Robotics Competition – Gateway project using Autodesk Inventor.

Unleash your inner mad scientist to create the next generation R2-D2 or Marvin the Paranoid Android. You and your teammates design a robot that will methodically take out all of its opponents!

Get started today!  Need help, join our FREE webinar and we’ll show you the best practices for using Autodesk Digital STEAM in your class. To register, visit our Events page by clicking here!

Although I was only nine years old at the time, I must have pleaded long enough, because my parents agreed to let me watch T2: Judgement Day. The T1000 terminator, at that time was mind blowing CG. There was one scene in particular, where the gentleman playing the T1000 walks through a barred door in a mental institution, as he does this, the liquid metal of his composition breaks away and reforms around the bars to allow him to continue his epic chase. Now that’s as much as I’ll say because I don’t want to spoil the movie for anyone, but at that moment, a passion was ignited in me. I knew it was technology, but it may as well have been magic. I didn’t understand, but I sure wanted to know more. Fast forward….

18 years later, a new movie blew my mind. Avatar. The genius behind it, just so happened to hail from the same small town in northern Ontario as me! Guess what else he was responsible for….Terminator! I didn’t know that at the time, but James Cameron had been an idol of mine for almost 2 decades, and here he was again pushing the envelope. To say Avatar was one of the most visually compelling films I’ve ever seen would be an understatement and I’m glad to know that there are supposed to be 2 more coming, along with a 5th Terminator. So now that you know I’m a big James Cameron fan and moreso a fan of how he implements Autodesk products in the making of his films, I’ll mention another gentleman who’s productions boast mind blowing visuals. Peter Jackson.

I mention Peter Jackson because he’s a pioneer as well. Movies like the remade District 9, and of course the Lord of the Rings trilogy would have been quite intimidating for most producers, but not for Peter Jackson.  

Now that The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey is out, I wanted to bring to light that we currently sell two of the amazing products that brought this movie to life. Marvelous Designer, a 3D fashion creation tool allowed the movie artists to create visually stunning costumes and attire for these otherwordly creatures. Combined with Autodesk Maya, at a whopping 48 fps, your eye and mind, can’t tell the difference between Middle Earth and reality. Equipped with tools like Marvelous Designer and the Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite, these gentleman and their respective teams make movies that leave their audiences speechless.  I’ve included a short clip of Gollum and Bilbo’s first meeting to give you an idea of the power of these products, and a short quote from James Cameron in regards to the evolution of the process. “Creating the virtual production pipeline on ‘Avatar’ was a groundbreaking process that only enabled us to scratch the surface of what is possible. Together with Autodesk and Weta Digital, we have used the knowledge gained from this first experience to clearly define the ideal process and then develop the technology needed to streamline our workflow. With the resulting pipeline, on the ‘Avatar’ sequels, I will be able to devote more of my energy to the creative side of the moviemaking process, and dig deeper into all that is possible with virtual production,”. ~ James Cameron

Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to check us out on Youtube at www.youtube.com/idesignsol

- Travis Van Clieaf

As you’ve surfed the net in the past couple weeks, you may have noticed a trend. The trend is to predict what you’ll see become popular, or more popular in 2013. Typically, I’m not one to jump on the bandwagon, but I figure for the sake of the ‘bots, I’ll make an exception. Unlike Nostradamus though, I didn’t see this in a bowl of water, nor will you have to decipher my prediction from poetry. Here goes.

2013….you’re going to see more robots.

Sure, Travis, way to channel that psychic energy right? But seriously, around the globe, robotics in education is becoming something more and more younger students want to learn. How do we know? In December, up until about the 24th, anxious parents were calling us to see if they could get more parts or a robot kit for their children.  I look at this as somewhat of a phenomenon because I can’t remember asking my parents for something school related when I was in the glory days of my childhood. But that was last year and a lot has changed since then.

Around the globe, schools are adopting robotics into their curriculae and are seeing the benefits of competitive learning in a project team environment.

What can you expect to see at a VEX Robotics tournament? A lot of brain power, students applying last minute tweaks and modifications, and let’s not forget proud parents. This year’s official competition is called the Sack Attack (Click here for details), and it’s inspired more competitive spirit and technical ingenuity from it’s competitors than we’ve ever seen before.

Just in case you’re curious about this new academic sport, as you should be, we’d like you to know about a few events coming up in February in southern Ontario. At these events you’ll witness the excitement, intelligence and sparkling potential of today’s youth…..aaaaand there probably won’t be a lockout any time soon. Robotics is for competitors!

~ Travis Van Clieaf

February 2nd, VEX Robotics Competition at The Bishop Strachan School, 298 Lonsdale Rd, Toronto, Ontario. (Click here for event details)

February 9th, VEX Robotics Tournament at Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School,         460 Linwell Rd, St. Catherines, Ontario. (Click here for event details)

February 23rd, VEX Robotics Tournament at Rick Hansen Secondary School,                  1150 Dreamcrest Rd, Missisauga, Ontario. (Click here for event details)

iDESIGN Solutions was happy to attend the Houston VEX Robotics Sack Attack Tournament.

VEX Sack Attack is played on a 12’x12’ square field configured as seen above. Two alliances – one “red” and one “blue” – composed of two teams each, compete in matches consisting of a fifteen second autonomous period followed by one minute and forty-five seconds of driver- controlled play.

The object of the game is to attain a higher score than the opposing Alliance by Scoring Sacks and Bonus Sacks in your colored Floor Goals, Troughs and High Goal, and by having the most Robots of your color Parked at the end of the Match.

Sack Attack Details

VEX Sack Attack is played on a 12’x12’ square field configured as seen above. Two alliances – one “red” and one “blue” – composed of two teams each, compete in matches consisting of a fifteen second autonomous period followed by one minute and forty-five seconds of driver- controlled play.

• 1 point for Sack Scored on Floor Goal
• 5 points for Each Sack Scored in Trough
• 6 points for Bonus Sack scored on Floor Goal
• 10 points for Bonus Sack scored on Trough Goal
• 10 points for Sack scored on High Goal
• 15 points for Bonus Sack scored on High Goal

First, second and third place awards went to PASADENA ISD Robotics, DiscoBots and Clear Falls VEX Robotics. Congratulations to all competitors in this exciting event!