This is our climber prototype. It is over-height and high strung. It needs limit switches.
It uses a pair of single stage Triftybot telescopes. The arms are spring loaded forward and move back using the weight of the robot so those two axis are passive but it likes to hit the bottom of the bar. It uses a pair of falcons with a 5:1 versa planetary. The rope is wrapped directly on the hex output shaft.
The hooks are made from 1" x 1/8" steel bar bent to shape.
I plan on slowing the gear ratio to 9:1 or 12:1
Really cool design! I like how the rotation of the arms is passive, smart execution. Any thoughts on automating this? Or maybe adding a camera looking up towards the arms and the rungs to make it easier for the driver?
Yes, very high strung. It climbs to a bar in about a half second and extended its other arm in about 1/4 second. That is faster than I can react. I expect our driver will do better. If you extend an arm while swinging forward it misses on the wrong side or smacks the bar so hard it breaks stuff. It can climb so fast that it can jump off the bar. The full weight bot will have a harder time with that last problem. But I plan on gearing it down. I knew that the back hook had to get the weight off so that it would naturally unhook so I geared it as fast as possible. What I did not take into account is that the back hook would see the speed difference of the two hooks rather than just the speed relative to the bot.
This seems like a good situation to consider developing a mechanism that herds balls into the bottom of the terminal with a shelf to accept from the top of the terminal to go score. Or even something that dumps the single ball in auto towards that quintet, it’ll make a world of difference.
I thought about downsizing. But opted not to recommend that because I can’t point them to directions on how to cut down the frame and hope it all works out. The standard long kitbot has online directions and then they can do the Everybot if they get time. I can’t often get to their meetings in a reasonable amount time after school lets out so I might only be able to do Saturdays.
Also, I know how the kitbot performs and handles. The square version of the kitbot might be ok but that does not help much for a triple climb. I figure that if they make it to championships we will change to a double stage climber and climb high enough on the bar to let another robot hang below us. I also have some exotic ideas on how to make the two arms transfer weight back and forth on the same bar to “traverse” on the traverse bar. And a third reason is that I kinda hope to inherit some used bumpers and save a day of work and some money rather than building our own.
The key limitations on this are going to be how far apart the hooks need to get and comply with G107 (16" extension) and having a stable drive with a relatively high center of gravity.
Especially as I think this pairs well with @Zook’s Blockinator, which also tends to a high CoG (though you might have to eliminate or at least limit the angles on the turret). Just hope your opponent’s robot wasn’t inspired by Perry the Platypus. K-k-k-k-k-k!
