I was in Target the other day browsing through the toy department when I noticed a display of Vex robotics products. Vex has long been a competitor of Tetrix's metal robots, but they've recently redesigned their products to include plastic parts more in keeping with LEGO's robotic kits. I've been intrigued with their new design for a while now (I've seen them at several technology conferences this past year). So since they were right there in front of me (and the price was right), I decided to give one a try. I picked out the Hexcalator ball machine (only $29.99), because it looked like fun and I thought it would make an interesting demo for my fall workshops. Vex advertises this kit as an Intermediate-level build, only requiring 3 hours of assembly, for kids 8 years and above. I found their claim a little ambitious, since it took me 2 days to get my ball machine up and running.
The primary components of the Vex kits were rectangular plastic plates that snap together with tiny white pegs to form the basic structure. The initial assembly was not very difficult, but I found the instruction booklet quite tedious to follow. I'm a big believer in wordless pictorial diagrams, but in the Vex booklet, all the diagrams are poor reproductions of multiple dark gray plates overlapping one over the other. A parts banner runs across the top of the page, but there is no rhyme or reason to the scale between the various components (a tiny peg is drawn the same size as a large plate) making it very difficult to tell which part to actually use. It would have been so easy for Vex to call out the numerical sizing of each plate (ie. 3x4 or 4x12), so that I didn't have to stick my nose right into the booklet trying to count the holes.
I've read some reviews on the internet claiming that the Vex components are not very durable and I have to say that I wonder about that myself. In my workshop experience, young children (8 year olds in particular) are somewhat clumsy, and I cannot imagine this ball machine surviving intact if it were dropped onto the floor. I'm also not convinced that a typical 8 year old would have the patience and persistence to figure out the building instructions. It took me quite a while to get the machine's complicated gearing system to mesh smoothly (would an 8 year old bother with that?). But despite these concerns, I'm still determined to try to automate this kit with a motor and sensor for my next workshop. We'll see how that goes.
