May brings the close to a school year for many schools across the country. Unfortunately, this school year will be associated with words like Pandemic, Quarantine, and Remote Learning. However, this year will not be remembered for those things. Instead, it’ll be remembered for teachers that went above and beyond for their students. At VEX, we’d like to say congratulations to the graduating class of 2020 and their teachers. There were no cap and gown ceremonies for us at VEX during May, but our mission at VEX continues and we’re happy to share some of the May highlights.
VEXcode
What’s new?
We released a big update to VEXcode VR in May. You can now program your VR Robot with Python! The full changelog for the 2.0 release can be found here. Some highlights include:
- Improved information in the VR Blocks help docs
- Added beta support for German, Lithuanian, Finnish, and Turkish languages
- Added 7 new tutorial videos
- Loading on ChromeOS
- Saving on ChromeOS
- Moving and removing blocks
- Saving on macOS
- Loading on macOS
- Saving on Windows
- Storing data
Why you’ll love it:
We’ve received a lot of feedback/questions from users about when they could program a VR Robot with a text-based language. Many specifically asked for Python. As a result, we are happy to make this available. Additionally, we’ve added Python in a way that begins to make the transition between blocks and text-based programming easier. My recent blog post discusses this in more detail. For more information about programming VEXcode VR with Python, check out our last webinar.
What’s Next with VEX?
What’s new?
We’ve created this new web page that is intended to give you a better look into the new products that we’re working on, and an estimated time frame on when they’ll be available for purchase. It will be updated monthly, so bookmark this page and visit it often!
Why you’ll love it:
We have a lot of new products in our pipeline, from VEX GO and VEX 123 to new sensors for the V5 robot. This page will not only keep you informed on new products but also on their availability.
VEX Robotics Knowledge Base
What’s New?
New articles were added to the Knowledge Base in May:
- Location Sensor – Robot Features – VEXcode VR Learn how to use the Location Sensor to code your VR Robot.
- Eye Sensor – Robot Features – VEXcode VR The VR Robot has two Eye Sensors. This article provides you with information about how to use them.
- Distance Sensor – Robot Features – VEXcode VR Trying to navigate through the Dynamic Wall Maze Playground? Read up on how to use the Distance Sensor.
- Applied Math – Educator Resources – VEXcode VR VEXcode VR is a great way to integrate Computer Science into STEM. This article shows some great tips on integrating math.
- Teach with VEXcode VR – Educator Resources – VEXcode VR Looking to get started teaching with VEXcode VR? Look no further. This article contains all the information you need.
Why You’ll Love it:
The articles on the VEXcode VR sensor contain a lot of great information that is useful not just for the VR Robot, but also physical robots. For example, the article on the distance sensor contains information on how the distance sensor works. That information applies also to the VEX IQ distance sensor. Two great articles were also published for teachers. The applied math article discusses how you can use VEXcode VR to illustrate and apply some terrific math concepts. This is just another example of how VEXcode VR can help you integrate Computer Science into STEM. The Teach with VEXcode VR article is great for teachers just getting started with VEXcode. This article collects and organizes other Knowledge Base articles so teachers can easily get started teaching VEXcode VR.
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