Understanding the V5 Robot Brain – VEX Library

The V5 Robot Brain allows your robot to receive a multitude of different inputs, then process those inputs with an abundance of expandable storage that turns the inputs into a wide variety of outputs.

It is the Brain of your robot!

Powered on V5 Robot Brain with its Screen showing the Home menu.

Plastic protector piece for the V5 Robot Brain's screen.

The V5 Robot Brain has a 4.25 inch full color touch-screen which allows you to have direct control with the touch of a finger, in addition, it has a near limitless amount of feedback, a dashboard, and can be customized using VEXcode.

The screen is shielded by a removable plastic protector that is held securely in place by magnets.

Bottom of the V5 Robot Brain is shown with its four threaded inserts for #8-32 VEX screws highlighted.

Your V5 Robot Brain can be attached to the robot using the four #8-32 threaded inserts located on the bottom of the brain. These can used any of the #8-32 VEX screws.

V5 Robot Brain with its rows of Pin holes on its sides highlighted.

The Brain also has Pin holes conveniently located on all four sides which will accommodate the included Flanges or can be used with VEX Pins to attach the Robot Brain to your robot.

V5 Robot Brain with its 21 Smart Ports highlighted. There are 20 Smart Ports in two rows on the front of the V5 Brain, and 1 Smart Port on the side of the V5 Brain.

In addition to a programming and a battery port, the V5 Brain provides 21 Smart Ports which recognize and utilize the V5 Smart Motors, V5 Electromagnet, V5 3-Wire Expander, V5 Radio, and V5 Sensors, as well as allowing for a wired connection to the V5 Controller.

V5 Robot Brain with its 8 3-Wire ports highlighted. These ports are located on the front of the V5 Brain and are labeled alphabetically A through H.

The Brain also has eight 3-Wire ports which can be configured to accept the legacy Servo, the Pneumatic Solenoid Driver, LED’s, and 3-Wire Sensors.

Screenshot of the VEXcode V5 application. The Device Menu and shows a list of devices that could be added.

The V5 Robot Brain is fully programmable with VEXcode V5 in Blocks, Python, and C++.

VEXcode V5 is available for all popular devices.

VEXcode V5 with the Slot dropown menu opened and 8 available slots shown.

The V5 Brain has eight slots to store eight different custom programs for selection and use.

VS Code with the VEX Extension added and a V5 C++ project opened.

For advanced programmers, VEXcode Pro V5 (C++) is also available.

There are also a number of other custom programming options available.

Robot Brain Specifications

	V5 Robot Brain Specifications
Motor Ports	Any of the 21 Smart Ports
Smart Sensor Ports	Any of the 21 Smart Ports
Radio Ports	Any of the 21 Smart Ports
Tether Ports	Any of the 21 Smart Ports
Digital Ports	Any of the 8 built-in 3-Wire Ports
Analog Ports	Any of the 8 built-in 3-Wire Ports
3-Wire Expansion	Add 8 more ports using a 3-Wire Expander. The 3-Wire Expander uses one Smart Port.
VEXos Processor	One Cortex A9 at 667 MHz Two Cortex M0 at 32 MHz each One FPGA
User Processor	One Cortex A9 1333 Million Instructions per second
RAM	128 MB
Flash	32 MB
User Program Slots	8
USB	2.0 High Speed (480 Mbit/s)
Color Touch Screen	4.25", 480 x 272 pixels, 65k colors
Expansion	up to 16 GB, FAT32
Wireless	VEXnet 3.0 and Bluetooth 4.2
System Voltage	12.8 v
Size	4.0" W x 5.5" H x 1.3" L (101.6 mm x 139.7 mm x 33.02 mm)
Weight	0.63 lbs (285g)

For more information on the V5 Robot Brain please see these articles.