Manipulator(Arm) Help

[Liz Smith]

Originally Posted by fimmel

try using a program called 7-zip. it works for me using that

Stuffit Expander worked for me on my macbook as well

[fluffy]

winRAR also works nicely
but to help answer your problem: you could make your arm a little shorter and have a manipulator that grabs the tubes from the bottom, so it doesnt have to reach all the way to the top, but enough that the top of the tube clears the rack

[Liz Smith]

From the drawing, im not sure exactly how the heights are going to work out. You say the max. height your robot can reach is 107.67'', which is when your robots arm is completely vertical. To me, that seems fine, as David said, if you pick the tube up from the bottom, you may not have a problem reaching the top spider leg.
From the picture though, the arm is at an angle, making the max. height significantly lower. Is that the problem you were referencing? If so, we can discuss further improvements on the design.

[65_Xero_Huskie]

Have you tried a 4 bar linkage?

[Agent Gruer]

Yes and no, the problem is that it is too long for our body and to short to reach the top rack but we have decide to add a third joint like your elbow to fold in the arm in the beginging so it is not too big. THX for all the help! Also, Should we use pnematics or motrs for our torgue? Also, How much torgue (spelling error?) can the motors and other stuff in the K.O.P can handle???

[lukevanoort]

I would strongly suggest using motors, if you can. Pneumatics can be easier to implement in some arm designs, but motors are easier to control accurately. It is also a lot harder to run out of electricity for motors than it is to run out of air. You can find specs on the various motors and pneumatic components in the FIRST Guidelines, Tips, and Good Practices document and the FIRST Pneumatics Manual, both available here.