Team 4564's Tape Measure Climber

[Drew4564]

Hey everyone,

I remember that there was some talk early-on in the season about tape measure climbing devices, such as team 3280's in 2010, being feasible for this year's challenge. Team 4564 managed to create a tape measure climber, so we thought we should share a video*. Any and all questions are welcome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL0DOGykUOE

*Unfortunately the video was shot vertically (iPhones, man!), but the mechanism is all there!

[ROULT]

Awesome!!

[RoboAlum]

https://vimeo.com/156211827

Here's our tape measure climber. What tape did you guys use and what kind of gear reduction

[Drew4564]

Originally Posted by RoboAlum

Here's our tape measure climber. What tape did you guys use and what kind of gear reduction

That's awesome, I'm glad to see other successful tape measure designs!

We used a single CIM motor on an overall 28:1 reduction. The CIM is attached to a BaneBots 12:1 gearbox which is followed up by a 28:12 chain reduction. It's given us a good mix of speed and power.

[aphelps231]

How do you keep the tape from bending under the weight of the hook?

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by aphelps231

How do you keep the tape from bending under the weight of the hook?

With the heavy duty type tape measures, you can extend it about 12ft without it bending even with a decent weighted hook on the end.
We have a tape measure climber as one of the lift versions we made this season, but it never made it on our final robot.

[aphelps231]

Originally Posted by waialua359

With the heavy duty type tape measures, you can extend it about 12ft without it bending even with a decent weighted hook on the end.
We have a tape measure climber as one of the lift versions we made this season, but it never made it on our final robot.

Even under driver movements, it won't bend?

I'm just imagining a lot of teams having problems of lining up without the tape bending, but I guess a better strategy is to slam into the tower all the way up the batter and then extend.

[Drew4564]

Originally Posted by aphelps231

Even under driver movements, it won't bend?

I'm just imagining a lot of teams having problems of lining up without the tape bending, but I guess a better strategy is to slam into the tower all the way up the batter and then extend.

As Waialua359 said, heavy-duty tape measures are surprisingly resistant to bending. We spent a good amount of time ensuring that that the hooks and support bar were as light as possible, and the Fat Max style tapes can easily support the weight. We do check the tapes every so often for wrinkles/breaks, but after multiple successful climbs, have yet to see any issues.

Also, our robot does exactly what you suggested at the end of your post; we keep constant forward pressure on the wall and then extend.

[Boltman]

Originally Posted by aphelps231

Even under driver movements, it won't bend?

I'm just imagining a lot of teams having problems of lining up without the tape bending, but I guess a better strategy is to slam into the tower all the way up the batter and then extend.

That is what we are trying is the slam in method..we'll see if the build team gets it done today. Biggest issue is getting a small enough detachable hook at the right angle with our scissor lift (not tape) Then balancing on a separate winch mechanism. I think we'll get it done today as priority #1, we felt early on it was best to use the castle as a vertical guide in last 20 seconds with limited vision from far end and defense perhaps being played

[dominik.daners]

Our robot currently has a tape measure climbing mechanism, but it is quite different (and not as effective) to yours. We use a tape measure to deliver a hook to the top bar, and then a winch and cord to pull the robot up.

My questions are: have you dismantled your tape measure and built a custom system for it, and secondly, it looks like you lift by the tape measure, how do you do that?

Your system works very well, a 15 second climb is impressive!!

[Drew4564]

Originally Posted by dominik.daners

My questions are: have you dismantled your tape measure and built a custom system for it, and secondly, it looks like you lift by the tape measure, how do you do that?

Your system works very well, a 15 second climb is impressive!!

Yes, we have dismantled our tape measure. The tape measure was cut into two ten-foot lengths and then attached to and spooled around a 1.625" hex-bore Colson wheel. This spool is housed in a 3D printed case that's just slightly bigger than the tape when spooled around the wheel.

An important detail is the 2" AM Stealth wheel four inches in front of the Colson spool wheel. This wheel forces the tape measure to extend instead of simply unspooling and making a mess inside the printed housing.

To answer your second question, we simply run the system in reverse! Because both the Colson wheel and the AM Stealth wheel are on driven shafts, we just drive both wheels backwards and the system winds back up. We have a servo-driven ratchet and pawl system on one of the arms to hold us in place once we've scaled.

Thanks for the excellent questions and the compliment, we appreciate it! If you'd like better pictures of the system, we're happy to share!

[cfig3492]

Would love to see pictures of your mechanism.....especially of the drive mechanism!

[Drew4564]

Originally Posted by cfig3492

Would love to see pictures of your mechanism.....especially of the drive mechanism!

I'll see what I can gather for pictures tonight and post them shortly!

[Ken5736]

Really nice. Love the double tape measure!!
We originally wanted to use a tape measure, but were worried about floppyness and speed.
We ended up going a different route.

[dkavanagh]

We use a tape measure to deploy a hook but use 2 winches to lift the robot level with some "spear fishing" line. We'll be at the NYC regional on March 11th.