Any ideas for going under low bar and scaling?
 

I've only seen one idea for a robot that can pass under the low bar and get high enough to scale. Does anyone else have any ideas?

Re: Any ideas for going under low bar and scaling?
 

In 2010 there was a very similar endgame challenge. many teams effectively had arms that could fold out of their frames and deposit a hook on the bar. The hook would be attached to a string that the robot would winch in to lift itself up. This would probably be very effective this year too.

Re: Any ideas for going under low bar and scaling?
 

Tape measure climbers (see 2010).

Re: Any ideas for going under low bar and scaling?
 

For those of us not around in 2010 could you explain this concept please?

Re: Any ideas for going under low bar and scaling?
 

Picture and video.

I'm not sure if they are directly driving the tape measure spool or have a wheel compressing the tape into another wheel to drive it.

And if you search this year's FTC game, many teams there also used tape measure climbers.

Re: Any ideas for going under low bar and scaling?
 

Scissor Lifts

Re: Any ideas for going under low bar and scaling?
 

Many things wrong with this statement, actually.

When you say "many teams", you really mean "The Cheesy Poofs and 67". Climbing while preserving a low frame was a challenge that only the most elite robots could do that year, especially if they also wanted to cross obstacles. If you spent your build season chasing this as an average team, you paid for it dearly by compromising the attention you could have placed on obstacle traversion and ball control. Similar concerns for this year are valid.

You also have to be careful what orientation the robot is in once it's up off the ground. A sideways robot will have bumpers much lower to the ground than a robot that holds its orientation while hanging. A non-rigid hanger, while not impossible, has an extra burden to deal with versus a more rigid elevator style hanger.

Re: Any ideas for going under low bar and scaling?
 

I wont say exactly what our idea is for our short robot design to scale, as this is still an idea being tossed around amongst my team, but I will say that we were inspired by this:

http://zippermast.com/

Unfortunately one unit requires a half down payment, so it more than likely exceeds the price limit of a COTS part.

Re: Any ideas for going under low bar and scaling?
 

Orientation might also be important depending on how they're enforcing the frame perimeter 15" extension rule. If plane of the 15" is always relative to your robot, then if you tip over backwards while winching in a tape measure, that tape measure is likely sticking more than 15" out of your frame perimeter.

Although by that interpretation of frame perimeter, those tape measure lifts are illegal. So this is probably yet another Q&A question.