St. Cloud State Vex U team headed to world competition

St. Cloud State teams XDrive and Liquidator both took home honors at the Vex U Regional Qualifier Jan. 30 at the River’s Edge Convention Center in St. Cloud.

XDrive took first place earning the team a spot at Vex Worlds April 20-23 in Louisville, Kentucky. The team also took home the Judges Award honors.

Liquidators took third place in the competition out of eight teams.

The St. Cloud State teams formed in September and began working on their robots.

“The robots needed to be programmed with all of the basic functions to allow someone to drive and shoot with it,” said Todd Hillukka, of Liquidator. “They also needed to be loaded with an autonomous program that would allow the robot to drive and shoot completely by itself.”

The teams each built and designed their own robots. They also built a model of the competition field with walls and a net to practice for competition, he said.

In Vex Robotics, robots can be built using certain VEX Robotics parts and a limited number of 3-D printed parts. Each robot must fit within certain specifications for size and number of motors used.

Teams are judged on meeting specification, programing, functionality and design.

During competition the robots needed to be able to shoot balls into a net, drive and lift another robot.

The teams are now combining their skills to ready the XDrive robots for world competition. Team members are making minor adjustments to the robots to make any repairs that may be needed after the January competition and improving the autonomous program.

They are also seeking sponsors and raising funds to cover the cost of competition entry and traveling costs.

“We are trying to make the Vex Robotics team at St. Cloud State a fun organization for students to participate in every year,” Hillukka said. “Any St. Cloud State student is eligible to be a member of the team. It does not require any prior education or experience, just a desire to have fun.”