internal or external tote pickup?

[wilderbuchanan]

What do you guys think is more effective? What do you think most teams will use? My team is unsure which would be better.

[asid61]

External is easier IMO, but weight issues make me like internal more.

[excel2474]

You should make this thread a poll.

[triumph69]

A thing to think about, totes inside the frame, you'll have to at least partially drive up the bump to set down. External, your robot can stay on level ground while stacking.

[GeeTwo]

We're going external. We considered two different internal designs, but decided it would be much simpler to do external, and we've learned to K.I.S.S. We'll just have to keep our COG far enough back that we won't fall forward with a full load. We're also planning a "stay on the carpet" strategy to further reduce the likelihood of toppling.

[Gdeaver]

Our team is set on internal. I see many issue to overcome. There are problems with external to. I'm hoping some prototyping will help more with the decision.

[Squeakypig]

Originally Posted by triumph69

A thing to think about, totes inside the frame, you'll have to at least partially drive up the bump to set down. External, your robot can stay on level ground while stacking.

Not necessarily. If your drive base was slightly wider than the step, you could straddle it and not have to. Also, just because you stack them internally doesn't mean you can't place your stack externally...unless that's what the OP meant by stacking.

[Neima]

I feel external is more important because it will make easier to achieve Coopertition Stack or a Coopertition Set.

[Poseidon5817]

Internal. We seem to have a pretty good design

[AllenGregoryIV]

We're going external. Seems easier to put a container on top of a stack if everything is external. Blog post with prototype video.

[Soupp]

My team feels that internal will be best you have no weight dangling in front of your robot and you could just build one stack inside your robot and place it securely rather than having to possibly get 2 stacks to make your final

[earlybird]

My team is going with internal as well. Why stack one at a time when you can make and deliver an entire stack with a trash can on top. As of now we plan on using 2 Cim motors, 2 smaller motors and 2 pneumatic pistons for our entire robot. We'll see if it actually works but so far it far exceeds our expectations. There are definitely many advantages and disadvantages for each but after all that is why we use a decision matrix!

[IronicDeadBird]

Id say internal stacking with external drop off

[lynca]

There is no clear winner in the internal-external debate.

Look at your priority list (or Karthik's)and figure out what points are most important to your team.

[Taylor]

Team Indiana is the only one of the 72-hour builds that went with an internal design. One feature it has is the crossbar at the top of the lift that serves as a pinch point and stabilizes the stack when travelling.
Having said that, I'm personally leaning toward external.