Re: pic: Lift this
 

This isn't true. There is no 'recharging' necessary with the system we have in place and any trouble you may have perceived during the elimination rounds had nothing to do with our gas springs or lifting mechanisms -- both were working fine throughout.

The only required action to prepare our robot for the next matches was a reset of the mechanisms that restrain the gas springs -- this system is completely independent of the lifting action itself. I'm not sure if I understand how you might've thought that our systems weren't functioning properly, but I'd love the opportunity to answer any questions you may have so as to fill in the gaps in your understanding of the mechanisms.

Re: pic: Lift this
 

The gas struts, on our bot, at the start of the match, are in compression . When triggered, the gas struts assist the pneumatic cylinders in the lifting. Gas struts don't need recharging. Look at any van lift gate and you will see two gas struts.
Our whole lift/wings are a one shot deal. Don't get me wrong, we can raise and lower our wings but we only plan on lifting only once during the end game.
I just viewed Team 488's robot. They are nothing like us. Our two pneumatic cylinders and two gas struts are centrally mounted to our tower at one end and to a trolley at the other. Our Wings are attached to a trolley. When triggered, we lift the trolley/wings. 90% of our robot is lifted.

We don't plan on putting ourselves in that position but thanks for the heads-up.

Re: pic: Lift this
 

I'm glad that you have though of this before...

and I dont know how I came to the conclusion that it needed to be recharged, I guess it was resetting the spring... Too many assumptions, thanks for the info ;)

Re: pic: Lift this
 

No worries. I can understand how some might think that we're having trouble with our robot if they don't know exactly how it's designed to work. A few folks on my team pointed out that folks in the stands thought we'd been badly broken when we took our robot off the field in three pieces after our first match. It's designed to come apart very easily, of course.

Re: pic: Lift this
 

yeah I noticed the pegs, that was a really nice design feature, probably made it easy to repair.

Re: pic: Lift this
 

so from the looks of it, this is a dedicated ramp bot, correct? so you deploy at the beginning of the match id assume and just wait? would suck if there were more then one ramp bot on your team... btw AMAZING design!!!

Re: pic: Lift this
 

Our bot is a dedicated "Lifter Bot" and our strategy is for the first 1:45 min is to make as much defensive noise for our opponents as possible to limit their capacity to score, we will then return to our home zone, deploy our "Wings", let our partners drive on and then execute our lift for the 60 bonus points. We can deploy and lift in 5 secs., but if need be, we can continue to raise after the power has been cut at the match end as long as we initiate the lift while power is still available.

Re: pic: Lift this
 

A team had one almost exactly like that at VCU regional last weekend. It looked fantastic but several bots had problems climbing on to it in exactly the right positioning to avoid the topple, expecially ours:D . I could be because our back wheels hung over behind it and that didnt lend itslef to good balance.

Chris

Re: pic: Lift this
 

Not to worry. We plan on putting 'Sharks Teeth' on our wings. They will function the same way they do at parking lots. You know the ones I'm talking about? You can drive in, but if you try to leave through the entrance they stand up and blow your tires.
We will add pieces of lexan that will bend as you go onto our wings but will catch on your undercarriage and stop you from rolling off without blowing your tires :D

Re: pic: Lift this
 

To add to Wayne's post further, we also have outriggers that get deployed and automatically latch when the Wings are let down. These outriggers move our pivot point out the the center of the Wings. This will make our robot virtually untippable during our lift phase.