Here are the details on the Vex Microcontroller courtesy of JVEX-Robotics:
| User Programmable Microcontroller | |
| User Microcontroller | Microchip PICmicro® PIC18F8520 |
| Processor Speed | 10 MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) |
| Variable Space | 1800 bytes + 1024 bytes EE2 |
| Program Space | 32K |
| Programming | PIC C |
| Programming Tools | Microchip MPLAB IDE or easyC |
| Erase/Write Cycles | 100,000 |
| Data Retention | > 40 years |
| Inputs and Outputs | |
| Interrupt Inputs | 6 |
| Digital I/O | 16 max with no Analog, Each can be Input or Output (shared with Analog) |
| Analog Inputs | 16 max with no Digital, 10-bit resolution (shared with Digital) |
| Digital Input Freq. | 50 KHz (typical) |
| Analog Input Access | 10 ?Sec |
| Motor Output | 8 PWM Outputs for motors or servos, refreshed every 18.5mSec |
| Serial Ports | RS232 Program (115Kb) and TTL Serial (115Kb) – RX and TX on Digital/Analog port |
The microcontroller can be programmed in EASYC. Here is a link to the wikipedia page on EASYC. Here is a link to download the two versions of EASYC available EASYCV2 and EASYCPRO. There is a video on getting started with EASYC that steps you through building a program.
Other options for programming the Vex microcontroller include using ROBOTC or the MPLAB IDE.