Hello,
I'm president of a robotics club at my school this year. We have all VEX PIC robots with lots of parts, sensors, and microcontrollers. I am pretty firmiliar with how to make a robot, but nobody else can really do a lot. I was hoping to find a competition in Southeast Michigan we could enter. It seems like all the competitions that are in Michigan are similar to the FIRST competitions, something my club could never make. I was just looking for something small that would give us somehting to do when we meet. Thanks to any help!

vexmche123, are you thinking that the Vex competitions are too large for your club? If you already have Vex parts and a handful of students, I would argue that you're perfectly equiped to enter a local competition!

Although we're more focused of FTC in my area than Vex, the program is extremely rookie friendly and has a pretty low cost compared to other programs. Looking at their robot events website, there is even a regional competition in East Lansing which should be near you: http://robotevents.com/robot-competitions/vex-robotics-competition/msu-spartan-vex-robotic-challenge-1.html

If you feel that there are just too many complexities or costs in entering a Vex competition, I would encourage you to reach out for some help from your local Vex community rather than look for smaller options. Obviously there is nothing wrong with local hobbiest type competitions, but there is so much value in Vex and FIRST programs for school-based robotics clubs that I feel you would really be missing out.