$1,179 (Classroom Starter Kit)V5 Classroom Starter Kit listed at $1,179.00 by US reseller iDesign 365 (checked September 2026). The six-kit Classroom Starter Bundle lists at $4,999.99 on VEX's store. Competition kits cost more.

AvailableVia SSH / web / bridgeMetal build systemV5RC competitionVEXcode / PROSSmart motors

≤ 1 weekShipping: Days. In stock from VEX and education resellers. Schools often buy through purchase orders.

Remote control: VEXcode or PROS on a laptop builds the program and downloads it to the Brain over USB or the controller's radio link. No live laptop API.

Official ↗Wikipedia ↗Purdue SIGBots wiki (V5 Brain) ↗

Overview

VEX's metal robotics platform for high school and university, and the hardware used in the VEX V5 Robotics Competition. It replaced the older VEX EDR Cortex system, with a much faster Brain, smart motors that report position, speed and temperature, and a touchscreen. VEX unveiled it at the 2018 World Championship and shipped the first kits that autumn after delays. It sits above the plastic VEX IQ system in VEX's lineup.

Specifications

Category	Modular & reconfigurable · Consumer & education kits
Released	2018
Country	USA
Availability	Available
Programmability	Full SDK
Best for	Ages 14+ (estimated)
Vision sensors	Camera
Actuators	DC / gear motors
Audio	No audio
Compute type	Other ARM chip
Remote control	Via SSH / web / bridge
Size	Metal construction system, robot size varies
Locomotion	V5 Smart Motors (11 W, up to 2.1 Nm) with built-in encoders and swappable 100/200/600 rpm gear cartridges
Compute	V5 Robot Brain with ARM Cortex-A9 and FPGA (128 MB RAM, 32 MB flash, microSD), 4.25 in 480×272 color touchscreen, 21 Smart Ports, 8 three-wire ports
Camera	Optional V5 Vision Sensor and AI Vision Sensor
Sensors	Bumper switches in the classroom kit, optional inertial, distance, optical, rotation and GPS sensors
Runtime	Not published (12.8 V 1100 mAh Li-ion robot battery)
Speed	Not published
SDK	VEXcode V5 (blocks, Python, C++), plus the student-maintained PROS C/C++ environment from Purdue