5254 had two different scaling mechanisms that made it onto our robot. During build season we prioritized climbing very low so when we finally got around to building a scaler we were left without much space to put it.
For championships we built a 118 style grappling hook. This started with a
prototype that was made out of a
driveway reflector. This then turned into our
final hook and launcher made out of a PVC pipe and a piece of 1x1 versatubing. The hooks were spring loaded closed with surgical tubing and held open by a bar that would break away when the harpoon
hits the climbing bar. This
worked on our practice bot but was never successful in competition. We were having a
variety of robot issues at champs so we never had enough time to get it working.
For the offseason we designed a new intake with a climber that
mounted on top. This mechanism was a scissor lift that is sprung upwards with surgical tubing. When winched down the hook would detach from the velcro and tape holding the hook to the robot. Our
winch was a 775 Pro in a VersaPlanetary using 2 VersaHubs and a ratcheting wrench. You can watch one of the matches where it worked
here.