Help with "El Toro" pickup

[marccenter]

Dear CD,

We've outfiltted our robot with the Boom Done "El Toro" vertical ball intake system and still have difficulty picking up the ball quickly.

So what did you find was the "critical element" or "sweet spot" that made your system operate? We've played with a number of parameters but have not reached our goal, yet.

1) Intake roller material or configuration (we're using 1/4 latex and 3/8 latex layered over 1/2 inch PVC-80 plastic - does aluminum work better?).

2) Speed: We're using a Bag-Motor with a VersaPlanetary geared 10:1. I have powered at 0.5 and 0.75. Was speed the "magic bullet"?

3) We're able to articulate our vertical intake sticks from straight over the bumpers upwards 90 degrees to help pull in the ball. This doesn't seem to help as much as I thought it would.

4) How about the tension between the two rollers with using the elastic latex. Was there a sweet spot we missed?
We've tried a couple of different spring rates using elastic latex without much difference in performance.


5) What about the center line of the stick's to the center line of the ball?


6) Other items we may have missed.

Tonight's bag and tag night in Michigan. Thanks for you thoughts in advance.

Best regards,