1592 Championships Can Grabber
 

Two Short Clips of what we were working on for championships.

The Claw- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGkoqBEdpac
Rack and pinion style over center mechanism with paws to lock it in place once latched on. Able to release the containers once the locking paws are pulled up against a hard stop to force it open.

The launcher- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryDgl_0hlkA
Device used to propel the claw at a high rate of speed towards the target. Gets there in less than .2 sec. Uses a Solenoid to release an over center mechanism.

The winch-
Modular mechanism designed to be pulling from just above a totes height with about 300 lbs of force per container. Also acts as the hard stop to push on the back of the locking paws of the claw to force it open and release the containers.

After some at site mods we got them both full together and hitting 10 min before alliance selection. They were designed to be cheesecake mechanisms so that we could run our auto. If we had one more rev we think we could have gotten it close to 90 percent hit rate. Maybe for IRI ;)

Re: 1592 Championships Can Grabber
 

These are really cool! Are there CAD models that you can make available or additional pictures?

Re: 1592 Championships Can Grabber
 

Wow these look really cool can't wait to see them in action!

Re: 1592 Championships Can Grabber
 

Ill take more pictures next time we are at the lab. Ill try to grab the models too. No promises on when that will be though might be a week or so we need a little break. We were still making parts for it at 330 on wed morning and our flight left at 630..

Re: 1592 Championships Can Grabber
 

I knew you guys said you had a secret weapon. But holy smokes... Can't wait to see it in person during offseason.

Re: 1592 Championships Can Grabber
 

This is really awesome! When did you guys get this idea and start prototyping it?

Re: 1592 Championships Can Grabber
 

We had the idea during the initial prototyping stage, about week 2 of build, but dismissed it. After we won buckeye week 5 we knew we had to do something in order to keep up with the elites so we went for it. We figured that unless we did something outside of the box that there was no way we could catch up to the teams that have been shaving down there time all season. We took two separate teams and develop two independent shooting concepts. One a dart in the lid and the claw concept you see here. The dart was very accurate however we could not find a simple way to let it go. After 2 weeks we had the claw finished well enough to comit too it. We made it out of metal after the initial plastic prototypes and it flew ok but alignment was supercritical. We made another rev of the shooter. It worked so we committed and made two. we finished the last launcher about 2 hours before we had to be at the airport. We really needed another rev of both. After messing with it all weekend About 10 min before allaince selection we got it hitting with the aid of a file to add another locking notch into it.

A special shout out to Mike D. From 233 for water jetting the pieces we need for the claw.

Re: 1592 Championships Can Grabber
 

That looks like something out of a sci-fi movie when it fires. I can't believe it takes you a full .2 seconds to hit. Have you tried using massive springs instead of speargun tubing? (Example: http://www.mcmaster.com/#96485k272/=wzefsr although maybe something a little smaller)
When IRI is over, I would love to see the CAD for this. having a claw that auto-clamps on contact would be amazing for a lot of appliactions.

Re: 1592 Championships Can Grabber
 

Hey, we had a winch that held 300 lbs of force last year. Winches are the best. Hope to see yours in action!

Re: 1592 Championships Can Grabber
 

RIP that tape measure in front of the launcher :P

Re: 1592 Championships Can Grabber
 

We initially tried using springs but it is a lot easier to add more or subtract tubing runs and preload. If we needed too we were going to adjust it to go faster. We were not supper worried about winning the race as long as we got to it before it got off the step we could pull it and what ever was attached to it back over. Right now its hitting the can so hard it knocks it towards the other side of the field and claw actually tries to bounce off before it gets a chance to close so if we add more energy to the system we will have to find a way to damp out the system so the claw does not bounce off or get it to close faster we have plans to test both just had no time to test it before the event. The claws trajectory actually fallows the rc's handle through the arc that another robot would pull it through in an in the can arm solution. So that means that even if the other robot got there first we would have a shot at catching them and stopping their action, then start winching back. Ill make sure to post the cad as soon as we can. Its actually pretty portable. Perfect for mounting to other robots.. Its fun to hold in your hand and shoot it too. Makes you feel like batman or something. It will grapple anything smaller than the jaws.

Aren't they though ;) We hope so too.

Lol the tape is fine... Then again we haven't seen it since that day.... lol jk.

Re: 1592 Championships Can Grabber
 

THATS SO freaking legit!! I LOVE IT :cool:

Re: 1592 Championships Can Grabber
 

Very cool! Hope I get to see this at an offseason event.