Manipulator Maladys

[ZakuAce]

We came up with a possible design for a manipulator, but we seem to have hit a wall. I'm posting for some help.

We've come up with a combination between an arm and a forklift. We were thinking of having a "tower", which is basically telescoping alumnium tube. We aren't quite sure how to drive it up. Options are :worm gear, a cable system (which is really hard to explain without drawing) and something with pneumatics (which is what our main mentor wants, but we're clueless on how to do that).

For a grasping device, we would just use two pincers that apply pressure to the ball and release to drop it over the overpass. We're not totally sure how to do this, but probably pneumatics.

The problem is the design requires the tower to be in the front of the robot. We're worried that the weight of the ball and the height when the tower is extended to put the ball on the overpass could make us fall over. I thought that the weight of the motors, the battery, and other internals would act as a counter weight, but we aren't sure.

I'd appreciate input! Thanks in advance!