[EricH]

Originally Posted by E2207

Which means that although both jaws are open in order to attach the minibot to the pole, but the circuitry is wired so that when one jaw closes and activates the switch, it closes both?

I was thinking that the controls would be like this: When the pole is detected, the main power (both motors and jaws) turns on. (You could hold the minibot down until jaws close.) When the jaws close, their power is cut off (servos can hold their position pretty well; no sense in stripping gears). Should the jaws open again, the switch (say, a standard limit switch) will turn the power back on and the servos will close the jaws more firmly.

Meanwhile, the motors are pushing the minibot up the pole. When the minibot hits the top, another switch cuts the power to that circuit and then latches down (how you do this part is up to your imagination), keeping power to the motors off. The minibot slides back down.