Building a VEX IQ field

A gainingSTEAM VEX IQ field comes out of the trailer in a few large floor sections, not as loose tiles. Building a field means fitting those sections back together, closing up the walls, and checking it's square. The game elements go on afterwards, and have their own guide.

If the fields aren't inside yet, start with unloading the VEX IQ trailer.

Before you start

• Ask the Event Partner where each field goes, and which one is the skills field. The skills field is built exactly the same way.
• Clear the floor. Tiles sit flat only on a flat, clean floor. Sweep away anything that would make a tile rock.
• Leave room to walk around every field. Referees, field resetters and drivers all need a clear path on every side.

How a field splits

This is a field taken apart into its sections. Every field in the trailer splits the same way.

Most sections are interchangeable and can go into any field. Two kinds are not:

• The corner sections that hold the pyramid corners.
• The corner sections with the red and blue strips.

Those have to go in a specific spot. Section labels are being added to the walls; until they're on, match each section to the photo above.

Putting it together

1. Lay the position-specific corner sections first. They fix where everything else goes.
2. Fill in the interchangeable sections between them.
3. Press every seam closed. Walk along each join and push the tile edges down until they lock. A seam that's slightly open will catch a robot's wheel.
4. Close up the walls. Most walls arrive attached to their section. Fit the loose straight wall strips into the gaps so the wall runs unbroken all the way round.
5. Check it's square. Look along each wall. It should be straight, with no step where two sections meet.

Before you call it done

• Every tile flat, with no corner lifting.
• Every seam closed.
• The wall complete, with no gaps.
• The red and blue strips on the correct sides, and the pyramid corners in the correct corners. Check the field diagram in the current VEX IQ game manual.

Get a second person to check before you move on. A problem found now takes a minute to fix. Found after the first match, it holds up the schedule.