Quote:
Got some Vex? Try a roller claw out in that and play with the geometry. See if you can make it work. If you can, great! If you can't, new design.
The key to a good manipulator is not the kind of manipulator but how much prototyping you put into it.
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Well said, and I have a video to prove it (link below)!
The kids made 2 proof of concepts Saturday that were both pneumatically-actuated 'dumb' claws, in order to see the feasibilities of chute pickup vs floor pickup. One claw went through the center of the tubes with a 3-pronged approach, the other went for the outer edges of the tubes against 2 pieces of very smooth wooden slats (about 6"x6"). Both worked beautifully from the floor.
We're entertaining the idea of an inner-roller claw since in 2007 that one worked the
absolute best* for us and was relatively simple. This year we'd have to modify it, and probably forego the ability to place one of the shapes (gasp!), however that's the tradeoff we'd let our alliances know about.
*look at 45 seconds into the video. We got the idea from Gael Force. In that same video, 340 uses a very simple pneumatic claw as well, adding more anecdotes to Chris's advice.