pic: Team 488 XBot two lifts getting closer

[Madison]

Originally Posted by jfish456

How are you planning to hinge the lifts to the robot and then deploy them? Also what are your thoughts on keeping the springs compressed and then releasing them?

The lifts will be hinged along the front and back part of our chassis. They'll effectively be bolted upright and released by a Globe motor-powered mechanism that will pull the pin supporting them upright. Their center of gravity lies on outer side of the pivot and so the ramps will fall under their own power. We're working on dampening their impact with the carpet. This is a change from our initial plan which called for their rotation to be powered because of the documented issues with the BaneBots 42 mm planetary gearboxes.

The mechanism that keeps the springs depressed is a work in progress.

Originally Posted by GVDrummer

Thats nice... the length would be really helpful if you just let them down in the beginning of the game right in front of the opponents tubes so they couldn't get to them.

We're 10' across with the lifts lowered, but not deployed, so we can cover almost half the playing field. We may find that blocking their access to the ringers may be a viable strategy, but we're still hopeful that we'll have some ability to score ringers, as well.