What's the coolest (or most complicated) linkage ever used in FRC?

[Foster]

Originally Posted by s_forbes

Another cool linkage system that I've only ever seen used once: 1565's linkage drivetrain from 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvN4K2ieR5g

We built this during one of our Summers of Robot Fun for Drive trains we built a "twitch drive", like 1565's linkage. (See the Power Point on the page) One of our VEX teams then built one a year later for competition It had all the features of wide and short bases, and worked well for them. With the grippy wheels it was a winner in any pushing contest. Downside was the huge force on the upper part of the pivot and the shaft. The force applied by the wheels on the standard VEX shaft was the weak point. If I had to do it today, (and I might since this has triggered the thought) I'd use the VEX small turntable as the pivot point.

More on topic for the linkage was a team at "Overdrive" that could pick the ball up off the floor and swivel it up and over the bridge, either placing it or tossing it over. I want to say it was Rolling Thunder 1511, or Moe 365 since they are awash in engineering coolness, but I'm not 100% sure.