[FTC]: Climb or No Climb-That is the question?!

[Gdeaver]

It's been allot of work and failures but we finale climbed the mountain yesterday.
https://youtu.be/g0ETY-ryZ1I
Many more problems to solve.

[DavisDad]

Cool! Nice work!

[DadInaDaze]

Summary of what I saw re: climbing while reffing @ our state's second qualifying tournament of the season...

In short, most action was at or below the Mid-Zone; very few rested on the highest heights. (One robot got on the pull-up bar x2, one got in the High Zone [also, I think, in two matches] by hanging on the Cliff low bar.)

As was mentioned up-thread, the majority approach seems to be get to the Mid-Zone, and establish yourself solidly there as best and as high as you could. Getting in the High Zone seemed too tough to do/try for vast majority. Along the way, attempt to trip first and second zip line triggers (modest success from attempts-- almost all were the first trigger only) and score in mountain goals (little attempts, about 33% of scoring in maybe 6 tries), and from there attempt Cliff achievements. I saw no attempts to trip the highest zip-line trigger.

Also did not see what I cautioned against earlier... no robots hit the mountain with a lot of speed in attempt to get as high as possible. Teams learned early that debris foils best-laid plans and they needed to combine enough speed to get onto the mountain while maintaining control.

Tournament winners/high placers were teams that consistently: got at least the minimum points from Autonomous*, was better than .500 at getting climber(s) in the shelters (most done while under driver control), moved some debris into the floor goal, a low zip line trigger attempt, and got into Mid-Zone... often going to the opposite Alliance's side.

*I'd guess half or more of the teams I viewed weren't ready or didn't want to risk things, so sat still in Autonomous. My partner ref and I joked about the stress of scoring in the several cases of an Alliance having two non-moving robots. Again, it's early in the season.

[orangemoore]

Our FTC has been working hard and we finally can climb the mountain and hang!

Here are a couple of videos:

https://youtu.be/Lql5YY94ZW8

https://youtu.be/jyGSXUwwvlU

[Nathan Pell]

How about this?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1I...ew?usp=sharing

[Nathan Pell]

Here is a few vids and pics of our robot "Talon" Still some more tweaking, but she can climb easily now and and sit pretty

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz8...ew?usp=sharing

[wgardner]

Climb with the All-Clear signal pulled down.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2c...dHbUswQ2c/view

This climb was performed without driving over any churros. A tape was extended from the low zone to the high bar and the robot was pulled up entirely on its front from there.

[pilum40]

have any video of how y'all did this? am curious. Thanks

[pilum40]

where did you get the tread and the tread pads? What did you make the tread pads from? Did you 3D print the gearing system on the winch assembly? Did you 3D print the bracket or have that machined? Very curious. We've been going round and round about being required to use Tetrix gears and the extra costs that entails. We've got a robotics lab stocked with Vex...for better or worse...it's paid for. If we can use Vex parts, I can keep from charging a fee to compete this year. Please let me know on the above questions. I would appreciate it.
Thanks!

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by pilum40

where did you get the tread and the tread pads? What did you make the tread pads from? Did you 3D print the gearing system on the winch assembly? Did you 3D print the bracket or have that machined? Very curious. We've been going round and round about being required to use Tetrix gears and the extra costs that entails. We've got a robotics lab stocked with Vex...for better or worse...it's paid for. If we can use Vex parts, I can keep from charging a fee to compete this year. Please let me know on the above questions. I would appreciate it.
Thanks!

I can't speak for the FTC teams that have posted in this thread, but I can say that you should read the manual with regards to allowed parts-- you are certainly allowed to use almost any VEX part other than the Cortex or claw assembly-- they fall under the category of COTS parts with one degree of freedom or less.

You are not required to have anything Tetrix on your robot-- you don't have to use the motors, you don't have to use the gears, and you certainly don't have to use the metal. You can make your robot out of plywood zip tied together with the electronics duct taped on as long as you follow the relevant rules.

[polytechnique]

Our team has been able to reliably and successfully climb (6/8 times hanged in the LED qualifier in Marietta, Georgia) using a screw-drive arm system. We drive to the mid-zone, reach for the highest mountain bar, and pull ourselves onto the high mountain. As it turns out, the largest-diameter Lynxmotion sprockets allow you to catch yourself between the highest bar of the midzone and the lowest bar of the highzone, keeping your robot locked in if you have a low enough CoG.

You don't need to drive up the mountain, you can pull yourself up just as easily. I saw a lot of teams with a tape-measure system that was very flimsy, despite being compact and cool.

[pilum40]

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

I can't speak for the FTC teams that have posted in this thread, but I can say that you should read the manual with regards to allowed parts-- you are certainly allowed to use almost any VEX part other than the Cortex or claw assembly-- they fall under the category of COTS parts with one degree of freedom or less.

You are not required to have anything Tetrix on your robot-- you don't have to use the motors, you don't have to use the gears, and you certainly don't have to use the metal. You can make your robot out of plywood zip tied together with the electronics duct taped on as long as you follow the relevant rules.

that was succinct and to the point for sure. Thanks for the info. I have read the manual numerous times and didn't know if FTC operated under the notion that if it isn't written in the rules, it's ok. We'll proceed then. If my question p'd you off, it was not my intention. If you thought it was a stupid question, that's another discussion not for this forum. Again, thanks.

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by pilum40

that was succinct and to the point for sure. Thanks for the info. I have read the manual numerous times and didn't know if FTC operated under the notion that if it isn't written in the rules, it's ok. We'll proceed then. If my question p'd you off, it was not my intention. If you thought it was a stupid question, that's another discussion not for this forum. Again, thanks.

It wasn't a stupid question and I'm sorry if it seemed like I was irritated with you-- you were looking for rule 5.3.2 in the Game Manual Part I. It's not in Part II (the part with the game rules), so I can see how one could miss it. Good luck at your competition!