Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesCH95
I very much agree with your first idea about disconnecting drive motors, very good observation.
I think your second idea could introduce a serious safety hazard. Pneumatic components that always return to one state when de-powered can actuate at un-intended times. If they are explicitly switched you might run into other issues. For example, the cart's battery could run low and the pistons could then actuate unexpectedly, causing the whole cart+robot to raise/lower without warning. If the skids default position were 'deployed' down, and there was an issue with the cart, it might come to stop in a hurry in a queue or pit lane, which would be most inconvenient.
The idea of using skids to stabilize the cart for working is good, but I would not rely on them as a safety mechanism, nor would I have them pneumatically actuated.
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Clearly I didn't explain that last idea well enough
The pneumatics wouldn't return to a specific state when de-powered, they would work the same as pneumatics on FRC robots - they remain in whatever state they were at when power was removed (air leakage might result in the pistons slowly losing their pressure). The switch simply indicates which direction they would be at. If you wanted to do this without needing a controller on board, see the attached rough diagram.