[Justin M.]

You can also use a dual acting pnuematic cylinder to move a forklift up and down. Of course you'll be be limited to the maximum stroke length, so you'll only get fully up or fully down. But since you only have one fixed height to lift the ball over this year, pnuematics may be the way to go. There much simpler and are more robust that using a motor, then you need to worry about things snapping, backdriving, etc. You needed precise control last year because there were three different heights of spider legs, this year it's just one height.