Thread: Need advice
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Unread 18-01-2015, 01:56
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asid61 asid61 is offline
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AKA: Anand Rajamani
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Re: Need advice

When I tell you stacking from the outside is harder than it looks, trust me. Weight issues get everywhere for tall stacks unless you stick a lot of stuff in the back. Internal seems like a much better option for us in hindsight.
Take a look at Ri3D 1.0's robot for their wheel alignment system. Roll the totes in. Then jack the tote up using a couple pneumatic cylinders or an elevator and have the bottom tote stay on a catch (made of a pneumatic cylinder and a few pieces of aluminum, like a one-way latch). Finally, support the upper part of the stack with a frame of sorts.
Roll the totes out when the stack is done. Or, drive onto the scoring platform. To get your totes down:
1. raise the tote stack above the latch.
2. actuate the latch out so the totes can come down.
3. Lower your elevator pistons and set the tote stack down.

This was our original strategy, but some people voiced concerns over the rigidity of a C-shaped chassis (such that we could stack from the ground up in height) so we now have an external design. Which has far more problems than rigidity.
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