Joshua’s Blog: How Vex Robotics Shaped Me

We are always excited to discover inspiring stories involving young individuals!

This blog post is from Joshua, who talks to us about his journey with Vex Robotics!

How VEX Robotics Shaped Me

About Me

My name is Joshua, and I am 17 years old from Essex.

The Spark That Started It All

My VEX Robotics journey began in 2022. Our first season ‘Spin Up’ I joined my school’s VEX Robotics club with no idea what to do or where to start, overwhelmed but excited to see where my journey may lead.

Whilst struggling to convince the club leader to let us enter our schools competition, determination kicked in and I became inspired. I researched the absolute basics of the build process, attempting the daunting task of teaching myself everything from the ground up. This was quite the challenge but I persevered and managed to learn just enough to get the entry I wanted so badly. To Team Steve’s amazement, we won our first award in our first ever competition, with judges commending us on our simple yet efficient design.

Filled with confidence and immense hope to qualify for the year’s national championship, we focused and continued our preparations for our next competition. I was inspired by the field of engineering and enquired about the concept of an engineering design notebook, outlining our design process and noting our strategies in a style that reflected an organised approach to overcome the game’s challenges.

The Power of Teamwork

This alone could qualify a team to the national competition, and even the world championship, in Dallas, Texas. With our sights firmly set on Dallas, we used our passion and self-taught skills to motivate us. We reached the national championship in Telford, reaching the quarter finals after an impressively close (and thoroughly enjoyable) experience competing with the best teams in the UK. We departed Manchester with great ambitions for the next season, ‘Over Under’.

We decided to focus our efforts on our engineering notebook, including a new passion for CAD imaging. This fuelled my inspiration and led to production of a bigger, better robot, far greater than its predecessor, Steve V2.0. Despite competing in fewer competitions, we managed to reach the finals of a regional competition, being brutally defeated by the winning alliance.

The UK National Championship

Although we did not emerge victorious, this was a truly awesome experience that made us feel very proud of our achievements. We again qualified for the UK national championship. The Nationals’ experience was truly memorable and a testament to our monumental efforts. This was, what I believed to be, our final competing season, so we were filled with the inspiration to go out strong and give it our best, Dallas our goal.

We turned up on the first day of the competition, our competition shocked when they saw our new and improved Steve the robot. In our first match we had reached first place on the leaderboard, at least for that moment in time, we had reached our goal: to become the best in the UK. At that moment I felt unstoppable, winning most of our matches and finishing the qualification matches in a strong position. We led the leader board all day, courageously battling it out in the eliminations matches and almost reached the semi-finals, we fell short on a rule technicality and were out for the count.

Despite this, I had reached my goal to compete on par with the other amazing, talented teams and to finish our season strong. From a self-taught year 9 to a competent year 11, I was not ready to leave VEX behind…

High Stakes

Along came the 2024/5 season ‘High Stakes’. I had left school so could no longer compete, I was a mentor to the new team Steve passing on my knowledge to them. Despite not being able to compete, my passion for VEX was unwavering and I had the same hopes for the new team that I had had for my own: to compete at the highest level. I helped them with their build process and strategies. The level of competition this season was exceptional and we received an invitation to the nationals.

Final preparations began and this truly was my last shot at sending Steve to Dallas, albeit as a mentor I would not be able to go with him. At the Eleventh hour I found out some exceptions had been made and that I had been registered to the team to compete at nationals! My excitement was through the roof and I was so grateful for this last attempt to compete at a national level.

On the day of the competition, my nerves were building, however, sadly, we did not perform very well. Nevertheless we remained hopeful and my motivation to succeed kept team spirits high. We were all grateful for the shared experience and our shared passion for robotics. Steve might not have made it to Dallas, along with myself, but I have no words to describe my gratitude for my final, unexpected, Nationals experience.

What’s Next in My Robotics Journey

VEX has inspired me to pursue a career in engineering and I have unforgettable memories with my team. I recommend the VEX programme to any student with a passion for robotics or STEM. It has been truly life changing for me. I would like to take this opportunity to thank William James for managing our VEX Robotics teams and going above and beyond and the Jack Petchey Foundation for allowing me to share my story for British Science Week.