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Originally Posted by collin234
i can see how it raises itself...but how does it telescope.
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Thanks for the kind words, everyone.
The arm and claw uses a combined three motors and two pneumatic pistons for all of its actuation and control. The pneumatic pistons, however, are not used for the telescoping action. They are used to lower the arm into the horizontal position and to open and close the claw.
The arm extends and retracts via the globe motor and winch seen prominently in the foreground of the photo. It drives a cascading cable system, currently rigged with 1/8" steel cable, that extends the three segments simultaneously. It retracts by running the motor in reverse via winch drums of differing diameter.
Last season, I posted a lot of teasers without explaining what they did -- but everyone knew what team they belonged to. This season, I'm more than willing to explain how things work -- but I'm going to leave it a mystery as to which team we are talking about
