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Mini-Challenge

Now that you have been introduced to using the Motorized Hook Module on the VEX AIR Drone to pick up and drop orbit balls, you are ready to transport them to different locations around the Competition layout in the VEX AIR Flight Simulator. In this mini-challenge, your goal is to use the motorized hook to pick up and deliver three orbit balls with the VEX AIR Drone Controller. You will deliver one to a Drop Zone, one to a Drop Tower, and one to the Pole.

An aerial view of the Competition layout in the VEX AIR Flight Simulator with all five of the goal areas for orbit balls highlighted. Clockwise from the upper left corner they are the blue drop tower, blue pole, drop zone, red pole, and red drop tower.

Scoring Locations in the Competition Layout

There are three locations where orbit balls can be scored in the Competition layout in the simulator.

Drop Zone Drop Towers Poles
The Drop Zone goal, shaped like triangular trough that is wider at the top than at the bottom. A red and blue Drop Tower, tall square shaped tunnels with a funnel like opening at the top. Red and blue Poles, each is a tall black stake with a pointed top sitting in a blue or red conical base.

 

  • Drop Zone — The long trough-like open structure between the two platforms.
  • Drop Towers (1 red and 1 blue) — The tall funnel-like structures located on the far left and right corners of the field, opposite the platforms.
  • Poles (1 red and 1 blue) — The tall stick-shaped goals located in front of each platform.

Mission: Ball Drop

Real-World Connections

In the real world, drones often use hooks, cables, or lines to lift and retrieve objects that cannot be picked up directly and require using a suspended payload.

Drone lowering a case of medical supplies by a hook and string.

Search-and-rescue teams use drones with hooks to lower supplies like rope, radios, or medical kits to people in hard-to-reach locations. This allows help to arrive quickly without putting rescuers in danger.

Just like in the simulator, pilots carrying suspended payloads must carefully align the drone and move slowly to keep the object stable. Learning how to control a drone with a hanging load helps prepare pilots for real-world missions that require precision, patience, and safety.

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