Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich Ross
Richard, i feel like a "snake arm" is not practical for FRC robots.
1) it doesn't look all that robust to me
2) it looks pretty heavy
3) It is sooooooo slow. This company (OC robotics unless my brain is jumbling things again) builds these things professsionally, and it takes a full minute to look at the underside of a car. Between the way these things are controlled and the way that the motors are mechanically set up, its not that beneficial overall as far as i can see.
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I agree on the robustness factor, however I have seen methods in which an air bladder is placed on the "snake arm", the arm is sectioned and in effect limp, but when the air bladder inflates it extends the structure and makes it rigid, im sure that you can have more bladders, say on the side of the arm to give it a side to side motion. Therefore the weight is dropped drastically and as for speed, that is directly related to the volume and pressure of air being put into it.
As for FIRST robots, it seems unpractical to use an air bladder due to the limited volume we can store, as well as the question on wheter or not its legal (I doubt it).