How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

What ideas have people had so far? This is a crazy task and I think we are going to see a lot of different designs.

I also think a lot of teams are going to overlook the act of acquiring the rope before climbing it. What are the different designs that people expect to see?

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

I see the main challenge as grabbing and enveloping the rope, so it doesn't "pop out" during the climb.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

I think with a proper loop, a metal hook attached to a winch could grab on to it. You'd need to be careful to avoid digging into the carpet though.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

My team has a vague idea. Tie one knot on the rope, just below the maximum height of the robot. Have a mechanism on the back with a claw the width of the rope, and moves up and down between the bottom and top of the bot. Move the claw to the top of the bot, grab the rope above the knot, and pull the robot up.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

Look up some lego rope climbing robots. My team has gotten some inspiration from some of the smaller lego robots.
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Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

We're working four different prototype tracks for climbing. We figured out pretty quickly that securing the rope would be the fiddly bit.

• "Keyhole" (knot)
• "Hook Drum" (loop)
• "Wringer" (plain end)
• "LevelWind" (plain end)

All but "wringer" involve pulling the rope with a winch/drum/spool. Wringer is more like a continuous intake mechanism.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

My team is considering using a Velcro rope and a Velcro cylinder to pick up the Velcro. It was tested and proven it can lift a robot

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

As a climber I would love to see a robot replicate an ascender style of getting up the rope.
https://www.rei.com/c/ascenders-and-...cenders&page=1

All you need is 2 of those and friction to ascend a line, no knots or loops needed.

Or even a set of prusik knots to get up the rope.

That being said I think we are going to see a lot of rotary systems as they lean on strengths teams have already developed in the past.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

We are working on our first prototype design...we'll see what fun things it does, that we didn't anticipate. I'd like us to be able to use the field rope, one less thing to do before/after a match.

It's a neat challenge! And we're working on it right away, first time ever that we've been concentrating on the end game at the beginning of build season.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

My team is considering a pulley with a clamp on it so it will clamp onto the rope and then spin the pulley thus pulling the robot up with it.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

any one thinking cat claw line pulley...or is that causing too much damage to said rope...even if teams rope..

has any one gotten a yes or no on velcro tape on rope.. I hacesee some bots in 3 days use lots of things that are not rope..

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

There are at least 4 Q&A questions about that topic. Given the volume, and the lack of answers to date, I would expect it to be addressed by update tomorrow.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

Yup, that's our team's plan exactly.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

What motors work to lift the weight of a robot? Of course some have to, but we are at a loss as to what we could use.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

You need JVN's Mechanical Design Calculator, a wonderful tool. Linear Mechanism tab should have what you need.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

775 do a nice job lifting the robot quick

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

Careful not to let them stall though they'll burn up quick.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

Shameless plug here. If you aren't sure what motor(s) and reduction to use for your climber (or any mechanism), check out the spreadsheet calculator I just posted here. It lets you vary motor type & number, force, and moment arm and calculates the reduction that will put the motor at peak power output. Then you can check the top speed and see if the chosen motor is strong enough or you need a stronger motor. Technically, any motor will lift the robot's weight if you gear it low enough, but it will be insanely slow if you choose to lift the robot with a throttle motor.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

I believe that our team is gonna try the velcro method, using loop side velcro as our rope and then having a drum on the robot that has hook side velcro.

I think we could be way overshooting what we need, but we are thinking of using 2 bag motors at a 100:1 reduction using a VersaPlanetary Gearbox from VEX.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

we are currently planning on a 1 inch drum powered by 2 bag motors at 25-1 and a 3-1 belt reduction

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

Our team has done the calculations and we have decided to use the Bag Motor for climbing.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

Given the correct gear ratio and infinite time, any motor can lift any load.

There's an absolute minimum amount of time any motor could do any amount of work based on the motor's max mechanical power, assuming perfect efficiency and perfect gearing and everything like that. In reality you'll never get close to this speed but it's a good way to get a rough idea how much faster one motor can potentially be compared to another.

Some back of the napkin numbers: You have to lift a 140 pound (63 kg) robot (counting bumpers and battery) about 3 feet (1 meter). This is a change in potential energy of 618 Joules. The work required to do this is thus also 618 Joules (work-energy theorem).

Motor mechanical power is measured in Watts, or Joules per second. Here are some max mechanical power ratings for common FRC motors:

CIM: 336 W
Mini-CIM: 216 W
BAG: 148 W
775Pro: 348 W

So if we divide the work needed to lift the robot by the power of each motor, we will get the absolute fastest possible time that motor could possibly lift the load. Again, this in real life depends on any number of things that will make the real number fastest, so this is only useful as a basis for comparison:

CIM: 618 J / 336 J/s = 1.84 sec
Mini-CIM: 618 J / 216 J/s = 2.86 sec
BAG: 618 J / 148 J/s = 4.18 sec
775pro: 618 J / 348 J/s = 1.78 sec

What this tells us is, even if we get the perfect gear ratio for each motor, and a 100% efficient gearbox and everything, an optimally-geared BAG motor will take more than twice as long as an optimally-geared CIM or 775pro to climb.

So what motor should you use? Clearly, the higher the power, the faster you may be able to go if you get the gearing right. CIM style motors are generally more durable than fan-cooled motors like the 775pro, particularly if you end up stalling them for any period of time, so they are likely a safer bet. Aside from that, the CIM and Mini-CIM have much more power available than the BAG, so I would use at least one of those. The 775pro can work, but you have to be careful not to stall it.

More on gearing later if anyone's interested.

Re: How Do you Climb the Rope?
 

449 would like to assure you that securing the rope via the "hook drum" approach is actually quite easy.