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Continuous Floor Loading?
A couple of things relating to floor loaders that I would like to get some options and alternate views on.
For my own use I like to categorize floor loading into two groups: "Continuous" and "Grabber" mechanisms.
Essentially a continuous floor loader is a system of belts or rollers that spin and feed a gamepiece continuously from the floor to wherever the gamepiece is stored in the robot. It doesn't require any positional actuation of manipulators while the gamepice is in transit to work.
A grabber floor loader is something that doesn't have any continuous components and requires properly timed actuation of the mechanism in order to pick up a gamepiece. These could be passive (like the scoop pickups we saw in 2013) or could be a gripper-type mechanism.
Firstly, are these two groups similar to how anyone else would classify floor loading mechanisms?
My main inquiry is about a third group. This group is a hybrid of continuous and grabber mechanisms. In these mechanisms a roller/belt pulls one or more gamepieces into a temporary holding position while the mechanism is actuated into a position where the roller (or some other mechanism) can release the gamepiece(s) into the real holding/staging area. A prime example of this would be 67's floor loader from 2012. I would place 118's 2011 mechanism in this class. My favorite from this year is 2614's pickup.
I have my own criteria for when to use each type however I want to know when have/would you use each type of floor loader? What are the advantages of each? What are some high-quality examples (if you could link to images/video that would be great)?
In addition, the hybrid style seems to be underestimated and seems to balance function with complexity very well. As I have never designed, built, or worked with one, what are certain situations where this style should NOT be used?
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