Climbing Mechanism Ideas

[mikegrundvig]

Originally Posted by pmangels17

It seems that many people want to climb the corner. However, it is going to be near impossible to keep from spinning. There would need to be an incredibly complex system to prevent spinning without breaking the device

There are very clever design ideas that can climb the corner and provide for stability without requiring a gorilla grip on the pipe or rungs.

-Mike

[Cal578]

Originally Posted by frank.pendzich

...I believe this contest is really a test of team’s abilities to work together to scale that structure. That may be the reason why an individual robot can’t make contact with more than two rungs at a time and can only skip the first rung. It seems that we’re being setup to work together and it’s that feature that may in fact be designed into the game as the desired outcome by the game’s designers.
...

Under what circumstances can a robot skip the first rung? I read the game manual 3.1.5.2 as requiring contact with the pyramid in each zone (to get the points of the higher zones). Maybe you meant a robot climbing up the corner, so it contacts the pyramid on the corner piece in zone 1?

[TJ Cawley]

i'm an alumni of Team 1108, Panther Robotics and we have our 2nd robot which was apart of the 2004 FIRST Frenzy game. our climbing mechanism is a winch made from the CIM equivalent motor paired with a Dualt drill transmission. this combination was indestructible durring competition and had no problems lifting a 140 lb robot (battery weight included)

[Oakley Marie]

[falconmaster]

Here is our plan that we are trying to flesh out
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B44T...V0Z0JlM1U/edit
Hope it works
_____________

[Mike9966]

Ok, I don't mean to picky here, but I just realized what might be a problem. Imagine a hook that fits on the bar. Since the hook is touching the top of the bar, and the middle of the bar, this hook is touching the pyramid in 2 levels.
If you had hooks of any sort that pulled you up with say, something holding you on a lower bar, 1 level, and the one above is hooked on a bar, you are in 3 zones, if only by the quarter inch thickness of the claw.........

Any thoughts? Would they be this picky in the rules?

Thanks
Mike

[notmattlythgoe]

Originally Posted by Mike9966

Ok, I don't mean to picky here, but I just realized what might be a problem. Imagine a hook that fits on the bar. Since the hook is touching the top of the bar, and the middle of the bar, this hook is touching the pyramid in 2 levels.
If you had hooks of any sort that pulled you up with say, something holding you on a lower bar, 1 level, and the one above is hooked on a bar, you are in 3 zones, if only by the quarter inch thickness of the claw.........

Any thoughts? Would they be this picky in the rules?

Thanks
Mike

The bar counts as being in the zone below it.

[danopia]

Originally Posted by Mike9966

If you had hooks of any sort that pulled you up with say, something holding you on a lower bar, 1 level, and the one above is hooked on a bar, you are in 3 zones, if only by the quarter inch thickness of the claw.........

Any thoughts? Would they be this picky in the rules?

You can only not CONTACT more than 2 levels at once. You can OCCUPY as many as you'd like.

[Bonekiller407]

Ok are team is at a bit of a standstill on climbing. We realized that our climbing idea won't work because of the rule that says we can't extend outside a 54" cylinder. So we decided to figure out a way to go up the corner legs. Any ideas?

[Johnbot]

Originally Posted by Bonekiller407

Ok are team is at a bit of a standstill on climbing. We realized that our climbing idea won't work because of the rule that says we can't extend outside a 54" cylinder. So we decided to figure out a way to go up the corner legs. Any ideas?

We're trying to do what some teams did for 2010, with a grab and turn mechanism. We grab onto the pole, flip, and with a second arm, grab, flip, and repeat until we get up to the top.

Climbing seems much more difficult than we anticipated.
Our strategy put climbing ahead of shooting, but I'm beginning to think that that wasn't the best idea.

[kevin.li.rit]

Anyways... No one I've mentioned this too really likes my idea but it goes like this...

I simply use a spring loaded a "jumping" mechanism that would catapult my robot towards the top rung. While in mid flight, the robot reaches out and briefly touches level 1 and 2 in that order, then grasps on to the top rung.

I enjoy imagining what would happen if it misses...

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Coffeeism

Anyways... No one I've mentioned this too really likes my idea but it goes like this...

I simply use a spring loaded a "jumping" mechanism that would catapult my robot towards the top rung. While in mid flight, the robot reaches out and briefly touches level 1 and 2 in that order, then grasps on to the top rung.

I enjoy imagining what would happen if it misses...

I'm enjoying imagining the look on your Lead Robot Inspector's face when you tell him that.

[kevin.li.rit]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

I'm enjoying imagining the look on your Lead Robot Inspector's face when you tell him that.

Well, I would say, "Hey, we have bumpers." And I can always install a parachute...

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by Coffeeism

Well, I would say, "Hey, we have bumpers." And I can always install a parachute...

...at which point Ether would post a pithy comment about the math underlying the parachute and why this is unwise.

[smclean1969]

re: "I simply use a spring loaded a "jumping" mechanism that would catapult my robot towards the top rung. While in mid flight, the robot reaches out and briefly touches level 1 and 2 in that order, then grasps on to the top rung."

There are some tough challenges here. The amount of power required to have a 120 lb (150 lb w/battery and bumpers) robot 'jump' ~9' is ridiculous and extremely dangerous. The skill level required to do this and touch the levels and then grasp the top row is outrageously difficult. You're much better off just grabbing the bottom row and picking up an easy 10 points.