[GeeTwo]

In order to meet the "top 12" criteria o being either an alliance captain or a likely early pick, the goal even at CMP was essentially that you could put up two tall (5 or 6) capped stacks fairly consistently. There were a number of HP-feeding stackers that met this goal without being unduly complex. Many had tethered or internal ramps that passively caused the totes to automatically fall into the same location and orientation relative to the robot every time, simplifying the stacking process. Quite a few used the same lift mechanism designed for totes to also acquire and pre-stack RCs. Some were entirely modular (e.g. versaframe) and COTS (e.g. KoP, AM/vex gearboxes, COTS wheels) construction.

Another MCC concept that we considered and would have worked well but I do not recall seeing very often was the "RC specialist". This would have required a decent canburglar that could work both in auto or teleop, and the ability to cap tall stacks placed by your alliance partners. There were a number of teams which would have scored an additional tall stack of totes if they did not have to round up RCs, and the RC specialist would have been a fruitful addition to such an alliance.