Features of VEX AIM – VEX Library

The VEX AIM Coding Robot is equipped with many features that enable students to experience robotics and computer science in an interactive and scalable way — from beginner-friendly projects to complex autonomous systems. This article provides an overview of these features and sensors.

Movement

Drivetrain and Kicker

The robot's base includes three omni-wheels, creating a holonomic drivetrain. This enables the robot to move smoothly in any direction — forward, backward, sideways, and diagonally.

Angled view of an AIM robot on a field. The robot has it's kicker extended with a ball coming off of the front, indicating it has just been kicked by the robot.

A kicker is on the front of the robot. Behind the kicker is a magnet that allows barrels and sports balls with metal cores to be collected by the robot.

When the kicker is activated, it pushes out from the front of the robot separating the sports ball or barrel from the magnet.

Sensors for Movement

In addition to the drivetrain, the robot is equipped with sensors to ensure consistent movement and orientation tracking. These sensors include:

A 3-Axis Gyroscope
A 3-Axis Accelerometer
Wheel Encoders

Controlling Movement

Students can explore these movements by using the Drive mode and One Stick Controller to remotely control the robot. They can also code movements in any direction using Blocks or Python in VEXcode AIM.

Learn more about the Drive mode in this article.

In addition, students can use Button Coding to control the movements of the robot. Novice coders can make the robot move, turn, and kick directly using the robot’s screen before beginning with VEXcode.

Learn more about Button Coding in this article.

AI Vision Sensor

Angled side view of the AIM robot with a highlight on the circle housing the camera of the AI Vision Sensor. This is above the kicker on the front of the robot.

At the heart of the robot's sensing capabilities, the AI Vision Sensor allows the robot to:

Detect objects like sports balls and orange and blue barrels
Recognize AprilTags
Identify configured color signatures and color codes

Learn more about the data from the AI Vision Sensor in this article.

Visual Features

Screen

Top view of the AIM Robot with an overlay showing the dimensions of the screen. A box is shown around the outer bounds from the screen with dimensions. The top left corner is labeled as 0 0 with the x and y dimensions both extending to 240. The center of the screen is shown with the dimensions labelled 120 120.

The touchscreen on the robot responds to capacitive touch and can be coded to display many different things including:

Emojis
Text
Colors
Shapes
User-uploaded images

All of these can be customized through VEXcode. Learn more about coding on the robot's screen using the VEXcode API Reference.

LEDs

Students can control the robot's six codeable LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) to create:

Status indicators
Decorative light patterns
Feedback signals

Explore using LEDs in a project with an example project. Learn how to open an example project in this article.

Sounds

Angled view of a robot on a field in the middle of collecting objects. Music notes appear to the side of the robot to indicate it is playing a sound.

The speaker on the bottom of the robot lets students incorporate both built-in and custom uploaded sounds into their projects.

Learn more about uploading custom sounds in VEXcode in this article.