Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

The flipping or "rolling" up the corner edge with alternating short grip arms is how we are prototyping to go up the pyramid. Our style of gripper will not need to squeeze hard or damage the power coated tubes. The angle formed by the intersecting horizontal tubes is how/where we will grip, avoiding the slope tube entirely.

We will be able to grasp next higher level BEFORE releasing from one below. We will not tip or swivel around laterally, because our grasp mechanism will bridge across the two intersecting horizontal tubes, yet avoid contacting the slope tube.

We will not drive; only shoot 2or 3 in autonomous. We may hoist others up, if we can keep hoist near enough to level rungs to have partner(s) bump them on the way up. They may have to extend some to snag our hook, since we can only lower it so much, but even if we only pull them up to the 20 pt. level, that is a nice bonus for a no driving bot to make.

The robot will be kind of vertically notched so it can straddle the corner edge tube at match start, allowing center of mass to be starting nearer to the initial gripping points.

-Dick Ledford

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

BTW, I forgot to emphasize that the BUMPERS must ALSO be counted as part of the 54" vertical cylinder diameter limit. This makes it really hard to climb by flipping or rolling, with out extending beyond the limit.

-Dick Ledford

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

Sounds like a good strategy, but I would be worried if you cannot drive. You will be valuable for your hanging, hoisting, and auto shooting, but I would wary of picking a robot that essentially leaves my alliance playing 2v3 for most of the match. The points that you score might be enough to offset this, but I will be very interested to see how this strategy pans out for you.

Good luck! I hope that it works!

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

We certainly had some resistance to this approach from several team members, but the majority favored it.

One big plus is that it is virtually undefendable.
All the other good mobile bots are still subject to defense, which can lower their match scores dramatically, whereas our contribution is more reliable.
We also allow for less queue at the feeders, and less traffic congestion.

The big negative is the 3-on-2 advantage of the opposing alliance.
Still, we could not see ourselves getting ~50 or more points any easier way, and we are still finding more ways to score from on top of the pyramid.

-Dick Ledford

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

Where do you plan to start your robot? What if your alliance partners need you in a different spot? Are there multiple locations you can do autonomous discs and the lift?

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

We have an idea for a climber that will go up to the third level and then dump four colored discs in. We would score fifty points everytime, but there is resistance from members of the team because 1)we do not have a pyramid to test it on yet, making it difficult to do and 2) they believe we can score more points shooting. The reason for the disconnect is differing beliefs on how accurate shooters are going to be. Those who want a shooter believe at least 75%, but those who want a climber think it will be much lower than this.

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

I would say that if you're going to design a robot that centers around climbing, I suggest you start asking around local teams if they'll let you use their pyramid for testing. Part of effective strategies for FIRST is building within your resources. Based off of the pleathora of shooters being posted, I believe a 75% stable accuracy would be a very do-able shooter. Combine that with the myriad of safe zones this year, it would come down to how many trips (or lack of trips for floor loading) you can make in a match. The 50pts is a very attractive number, but you have to be dang well sure you're hit that third tier every single time. When you're shooting, each grouping of point runs should be independent of the previous run. With the 50pts, it's an all or nothing run. Also, shooting in Autonomous is the first tie breaker between seeding.

Just my $.02 and some food for thought.

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

We were considering grappling hooks and ascending to the sound of elevator music generated by a mini boombox inside our robot XD

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

I would love to see a robot do the 30pt climb, reach out an arm to do the 20pt dunk, slam the discs into the goal, and then start blasting Slam Jam out of the robot.

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

We will start out straddling either far (from goals) outside corner of the pyramid.
We will switch to forward corners if we have issues being consistnet with accuracy of our 3 autonomous shots.

-Dick Ledford

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

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Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

maybe if you had a bot push another with some rolling bot to lv 1 then the bot on lv one pull a bot with some claw device and the bot being pull on with grip on to the thrid bot with claw etc then with some rolling divice on one of the corners all 3 with 1 or 2 of them rolling can go up the corner of the pyramid not all with goto lv 3 but it would stil be points (only a idea ) :yikes:

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

I appreciate your enthusiasm but you might get a better response to your idea if you spend a couple extra minutes properly composing your thoughts into your post. We are, at the core, striving to push the community to a higher level...want to join us??

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

We are using pyramids of local teams, but they are around a half hour drive away from our building site. The idea we have would be reliable and if there was a team that focused on not allowing us to obtain the four colored discs, we could at least get 30 points. The way our shooter is designed, it would be easily blocked by a robot that can still go under the pyramid. It isn't making a shooter that is accurate that is the problem, it is making one that shoots quickly and accurately in the context of the game.

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

Our team has had a long running joke of building a "Rave"-bot for competition.

You've made my day.

And of course: