The team is actually going with something similar. Instead of pneumatics, we're using a threaded rod and globe motor for the grabbing, and we have wrist-like movement with a short third segment of the arm.
Ultimately it will be much less elegant, but simpler to make and repair.
Doing this design took maybe eight hours of work tops? During said time, I was IMing another college freshman mentor and I also made changes in various dimensions. (Originally I tried to do a 6" cylinder, but that was larger than needed, etc.) It was the only thing I did saturday after going to kickoff, and I touched up a couple things on sunday.
My team mostly calls them donuts. No one ever remembers to call them ringers.
Thanks for the feedback.
