[s_forbes]

We'll already have a motor/winch attached to the cheesecake version at champs. We had a BAG motor with a 90:1 reduction attached to the spare mechanism we made at Vegas and the entire thing (hook+launcher+winch) weighed in at 3.5 lbs. The BAG motor takes about 6-8 seconds to winch up and scale.

Not shown in the original picture is an eye bolt that goes through the end of the launching tube. If the rope for climbing is run through that fixed location near the top of the robot, there aren't issues with CG.

I honestly don't think it takes more than half an hour to install a mechanism like this on a robot and get it to work. It's tough to do at a regional level since all three teams begin playing back to back elimination matches immediately, but at championships you have a bit more time and a 4th robot.