[FTC]: Lift systems/Time?

[Andrew Remmers]

I've come up with a linear lift system that would be really easy to build and implement, however working out the kinks in a lift system is really what takes most of the time. I think the teams with scissor lifts did a great job and have proven scissors to be great mechanisms for this game (even though I don't like them really)

However for sake of argument I'm going to throw this in there. I am a strong believer that if a team were to implement it correctly a Linear system would A be faster to lift B be higher and C much much more efficient (all relies on design of course)

What does everyone think?

- Andrew

[h3x]

Originally Posted by Joyride_67_1902

I've come up with a linear lift system that would be really easy to build and implement, however working out the kinks in a lift system is really what takes most of the time. I think the teams with scissor lifts did a great job and have proven scissors to be great mechanisms for this game (even though I don't like them really)

However for sake of argument I'm going to throw this in there. I am a strong believer that if a team were to implement it correctly a Linear system would A be faster to lift B be higher and C much much more efficient (all relies on design of course)

What does everyone think?

- Andrew

What do you mean by a linear lift system? Can you be a little more specific?

[jasonbrooks]

We are using a linear lift system!

In other words H3X, rather than using two sissors to lift up crates, it uses 1 telescoping rod.

[team F.T.C 4240]

With most scissor lifts, they take up 2 out of the 8 DC motors, along with a good chunk of the robot (no matter how big or how many links you have). We took the time to build everything around the scissor lift, but if you don't have a ton of time to work on your FTC robot, you might want to consider another form of lifting a crate like the posts above, we never used a telescoping lift, but it could be a fast way to get a lift system that works and ready for competition. Like I said before, it will take a lot of time and effort to build a robot to lift crates very high.

[Andrew Remmers]

Nothing more than truth in that post!

Just to poke the fire a bit more I figured out a way to get 19 feet with a linear lift, can anyone figure out how?

- Andrew

[gotrobot?]

Our experience has been most of the 2nd year and older teams have implemented a lift system. There are a few rookie teams building them but most have their hands full learning all they need to know about FTC.

The lifts come in various flavors: Nested slides, roller and track, 4-bar linkage, single arm lifts, and scissor. The scissor lifts are the most common.

We've observed that most lifting robots are one trick ponies. Half of the are in barely working order and the rest are very slow, requiring a great deal of time to set and lift.

[team F.T.C 4240]

For the most part that is true, this year our gear ratio is 1:1 because last year we did 2:1 and it was to slow and plus we pushed the middle of the field all the way to the other side in auto mode twice at Worlds. So at lest we aren't slow this year.

[gotrobot?]

@Aperture: Actually, yes. Just not sure how to store the helium.

[Andrew Remmers]

Originally Posted by gotrobot?

@Aperture: Actually, yes. Just not sure how to store the helium.

hehehe Helium storage wouldn't pass inspection silly...

Actually pnuematics would be pretty cool...

- Andrew

[team F.T.C 4240]

I think you can use lego pneumatic's

[jasonbrooks]

From our experience reading and doing research the past few years, the lego pneumatics are nowhere near powerful enough to do anything like this.

[Andrew Remmers]

Originally Posted by team F.T.C 4240

I think you can use lego pneumatic's

Yeah... But... Those are kind of lame.

[team F.T.C 4240]

Better then nothing. And you could use a ton of them and pump them up with a bike pump before every match.

[PhilBot]

Hi teams.

For the record... G-FORCE only uses one motor for it's lift, and we've demonstrated a two-crate 86" lift in 4 seconds.

For anyone starting a new lift design, I recommend NOT trying for a hail-mary 10-section lift idea. The forces required to start the lift are magnified by each section you add, and rubber bands will only help if you want to launch the balls into the air. If you want to be successful, start with a few segments (eg: 4) and get that working, and then add some weights to see how much more it can lift. Then if you have power to spare, add segments.

As for defensive strategies... sure, you need them some times, but two purely defensive robots on an alliance will never score any points. I'd focus on teamwork strategies to help your partner score more.... maybe helping to collect crates with balls so they can lift them. Focus on at least one scoring method.

I was laso amazed to see how many rookie teams had not even tried to roll the bowling ball. You don't have to get it up into the goal to score 20, just roll it over to the ramp in end-game and sit there.

[Andrew Remmers]

Originally Posted by h3x

What do you mean by a linear lift system? Can you be a little more specific?

Not a scissor lift.

http://team254.com/wp-content/upload...254-2011-1.jpg

Best example.

- Andrew