Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

Did you think of a better way to get around the joints than the 3 actuated hooks we thought up?

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

Responding to dheerm here. Maybe I am missing something with this climber idea. But when you start the climb and leave the ground you cannot be touching that second horizontal rung. So doesn't your robot just swing outwards and become vertical again? We've been toying with ideas along this line for two days and cannot see how to reliably keep the bot from kicking back out vertical once you leave the ground (and therefore touch the ground again - which prevents you from grabbing that second rung).

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

with the inchworm idea, you have two separate but identical grabbers at the bottom of the robot, that the robot can sit back on and hang while the puling arm repositions itself. when the upper grabber hits the knuckle, it retracts, and the robot rests on the lower grabber. Then, when the lower grabber hits the knuckle, the upper one comes back, and the lower one retracts. We also "sit" on these, similar to the way the sliding, pump handle clamps prevent from opening, while the raising arm repositions itself.

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

I'm thinking that a groove down the center of the robot with a belt on each side with floating sprockets at the front and back will be a good way of keeping the robot close to the pole. I've detailed elsewhere in this thread more of what would be on each belt, but a floating sprocket could be considerably helpful.

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

Either style works. The best way to climb the outside is probably on the corners. However, you must prevent yourself from spinning around on the pole.

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

What about using the rungs? A robot with two extendable arms and hooks, each on a rotating "shoulder" joint? Think monkey bars.

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

We were thinking skis on the sides of the corner climber, that ride on the horizontals.

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

How would you hold the robot on as it's climbing?

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

Here's an idea I happened to think of:

Use two vertical and sliding rails, the could be pivoted out at the same angle as the pyramid (either 68 degrees or 60 degrees). The ends of the rails would have a hook that was spring loaded and could collapse inward when pushed from the top, but hold rigid when pushed from below. Similar to rung lock mechanism on an extension ladder:




To start, one would drive to the pyramid, swing out the rails, and raise one rail so the hook would ratchet into the rail when it hit the rung, slide past, pop out, and grasp the rung. Then that rail would be retracted back, lifting the robot base. This process would be repeated for the second rail to reach the second rung, and then again with the first rail to reach the third rung.

A ratchet/anti-backdrive system would be in the drive for the rails, to reduce load on the motors and to keep the robot up when the match was over.

Just a thought I had. I haven't been on a robot design committee for a couple years but my mind still is in the "habit".

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

You could use a ratchet system, or you could use a worm drive, which could be reversed if need be. That is what out design requires. Or helical gears.

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

Did he have a plan for attaching bumpers to it? I mean one that doesn't interfere with the climbing. Maybe once climbing has begun, the bumpers could be dangled from a cord.

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

To limit post size I won't go into all of the details again, but early on (like page one or two of this thread) I described it a little better and linked to a Youtube video that shows his inspiration. Essentially though he did not need to worry because all of the climbing mechanism was underneath the robot and the bumpers could be mounted above it.

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

No, but I'd be concerned about

1. Whether or not the battery has enough juice to sustain such a powerful enough magnet
2. What such a powerful magnet would do to the electronics
3. Whether inspectors would consider such a device to be safe

Not to mention that all outputs are disabled when the match ends and I think such a device is required to be controlled by the cRIO.

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

Our team did tank treads for Breakaway (2010). Powerful, couldn't be pushed, and always went over the bumps. But not very fast.

Re: Climbing Mechanism Ideas
 

I didn't think of that. Even if we used a top heavy robot, it would just keep spinning till it fell. Unless maybe this robot was designed so perfectly that the conveyor belt with hooks on it immediately grabbed the second rung the moment the robot was lifted off the ground then maybe it could work.