I am really excited to see VEX bring so many of these bots to life, both in VEX IQ/ HEXBUG brand and the smaller toy robots! However, the VEX IQ building system still leaves a bit to be desired. As a big Battlebots and Minotaur fan, it was really exciting to build my own model bot. I reviewed the building instructions to see if I missed anything (not that I was going to try and take anything apart), but every part was accounted for. Interestingly, the kit had a bunch of left over pieces. In a lot of ways, however, this is a major downside for me as it somewhat discourages experimentation. In fact, I think it would be very difficult to disassemble the kit due to the strong interlocking parts. I spend some time playing with it (and accidentally dropping it) and it held together. There is plenty of space to add some motors, if you wanted to re-engineer the bot. There are no electronics in the kit to make a true “robot”. Installing the chain was a breeze and the overall system is quite simple, as you can see in the photo above. The chain came per-assembled at the correct length. I resorted to a pocket knife to save my fingers from trying to pry the parts apart. Like my original experience with VEX IQ/ HEXBUG, removing parts is really difficult and I wish VEX would include a tool. I was forced to pull a few pieces off to fix my mistake. It is really difficult to tell the difference between a black plastic spacer and the black rubber stops for the axles. The kit took me about an hour to construct with only one hiccup along the way. However, most people probably wont notice the difference. I really wish VEX had purple parts for the inside to match the glow of the real Minotaur and a gold drum instead of yellow. For this project, the colors were close to the original bot. However, there was one yellow panel and yellow drum parts. The majority of the parts are black or gray. It has lots of little parts that might not be good for small children. The building system is the same as VEX IQ/ HEXBUG. The Minotaur set came packed with lots of parts and an instruction book. Follow me past the break to see what I thought of this building set. Its spinning drum eats through other bots. This bot from Brazil and is a joy to watch. Minotaur is one of my favorite bots in the show. Luckily I opened it right away (I thought it might be parts for a FIRST team) and found a Minotaur set. I was delighted to find a box from VEX at my front door recently. As an engineer I really enjoy seeing the design and strategy of each bot.
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