Elevators/ Forklifts

[zander_108]

Yes. That is exactly what i was thinking. It is to have a sicssors lift that is completly self supported from the ground. This means that in will be able to lift the robot relitivly quickly with the right set-up .

[agndoggieboi]

Our team made an elevator for the 2005 competition. You can see the pictures on our site, www.mckinleyrobotics.org and go to the 2005 website link.

[Justin M.]

One of our off-season projects involved making a lazy boy into a moving robot with pneumatic lifters...lets just say that was the inspiration for our manipulator this year.

[Greg Wood]

This Question is referring to the concept of having a component push against the ground and raise the robot.

According to <G56> "Robots score bonus points at the end of the match if they are entirely in their HOME ZONE, not in contact with any element of the field (carpet, alliance station, goal, etc.) and the lowest point of the ROBOT is higher than 4 inches and/or 10 inches above the carpeted field surface."

So my question is, can you have an entity on your robot push against the ground and not qualify as being the lowest point of the robot? Or are there some special circumstances?

Thanks.

[Clinton Bolinger]

Originally Posted by Greg Wood

This Question is referring to the concept of having a component push against the ground and raise the robot.

According to <G56> "Robots score bonus points at the end of the match if they are entirely in their HOME ZONE, not in contact with any element of the field (carpet, alliance station, goal, etc.) and the lowest point of the ROBOT is higher than 4 inches and/or 10 inches above the carpeted field surface."

So my question is, can you have an entity on your robot push against the ground and not qualify as being the lowest point of the robot? Or are there some special circumstances?

Thanks.

That rule is referring to a robot that is being lifted by another robot. So the robot that is being lifted can not come in contact with the field and its lowest point must be higher then 4" and/or 12". But the robot that is doing the lifting can and will come in contact with the field, unless your robot has an anti-gravity machine.

-Oris-

[ChrisH]

Originally Posted by Oris

But the robot that is doing the lifting can and will come in contact with the field, unless your robot has an anti-gravity machine.

-Oris-

If you can do that, you will:

a) have a very good chance of winning the Championship
b) have a very good chance of winning a Nobel prize, assuming you manage to get the credit.

[wilsonmw04]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1871

try this link for a really quick rundown of folklifts. There's a really nice picture there to get the brain moving. Just trying to figure out where we can get, or produce cheaply, the rails/tracks for something like what's on page 14.

[Choi9111]

I think that fork lifts are a great idea!...but how would it be possible to lift more than 1 robot? what do u guys think?

[Jesterofkings]

Originally Posted by Choi9111

I think that fork lifts are a great idea!...but how would it be possible to lift more than 1 robot? what do u guys think?

Our team come up with an to your answer your question there is 2 ways to lift 2 robots off the ground at the same time. One have a forklift on each side of ur bot and lift bots at the same team and hope they weigh the same and ur Center Of Gravity is to much to one side or the other. The other way is wat we are going to try. Have a lift strong enough to lift a bot on the front and kind of like a roll back ramp on the back. get one team to drive up on the bak and use them as a counter balance to lifting the other. The only bad things about these ideas is that you are relying on your teammates to be able to finish the round and that they will be strong enough to climb the ramps. If we figure out how to solve these problems or if u guys and gals got any ideas we will be welcome to hear them.


~Jester~

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Jesterofkings

One have a forklift on each side of ur bot and lift bots at the same team and hope they weigh the same and ur Center Of Gravity is to much to one side or the other.

You are making an assumption here of which you are probably unaware.

FIRST koan: Why must the two robots have the same weight?

[Scion13]

If your center of mass is outside of the wheels then gravity will apply a torque which will cause your robot to tip over

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Scion13

If your center of mass is outside of the wheels then gravity will apply a torque which will cause your robot to tip over

You are making an assumption here of which you are probably unaware.

FIRST koan: Why must the two robots have the same weight?

Second FIRST koan: Does the robot tilt the Earth, or does the Earth tilt the robot?

[razor95kds]

Thanks for all the photos and links for the elevators!

Our team is edging closer to our decsion of whether to use an arm or elevator, but one thing that is limiting the elevator from becoming the design choice is the linear slides. Our team has found some slides, but they are too weak. We want a single tack elevator with a beefy slide that won't weaken if robot to elevator occurs by accident. We like the size of team 64's in 2005 but cannot find a slide of their size. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

[abroerman]

We're at this stage as well, and as I've been home sick I figured I could try to come up with ideas of my own. The consensus is that my plan would be rather heavy, but it's possible I just embellished it too much.

Minimized (click either for a larger version)


Maximized


Anyone have more experience with extruded aluminum? How much does the stuff weigh? Would the sliders breaking be a problem? I don't know enough to make truly informed decisions regarding this plan, so I'm off to research I guess.

[Ianworld]

That looks fantastic but you're right its going to be heavy. One thing to keep in mind this year is that the ringers only weigh about a pound. That device there could probably, based on my wildly inaccurate guess, support about 150 pounds just as a point of context. The first thing to do is think about your material. Aluminum square tube extrusion or 80/20 is probably a good place to start. With 80/20 you can purchase linear slides. I'm not exactly sure what they're rated for, but considering what teams have used them for in the past you can probably get away with a very lightweight design(one 80/20 strut, if properly designed).

As for the weight of a set up a good number to remember is that aluminum weighs .1 pounds per cubic inch. So a foot long piece of square aluminum tube 1" x 1" with a 1/8" wall weighs a little over half a pound. So an elevator that is 8 feet high could easily have about 20 feet of extrusion and weigh about 10 pounds but at the same time that would probably be overkill.