Hey guys first time on chiefdelhi, thought I would start out and show you guys our ball grabbing prototype. It actually works really well! Rolling the ball to the roller simulated the robot driving to ball. Tell me what you guys think!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIofUolPI78&feature=g-upl&context=G28893acAUAAAAAAAAAA
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Why did you choose to use surgical rubber fingers? What does that add to the roller?
We did something similar back in 09 but with pneumatic tubing instead of surgical tubing.
It starts to grab the ball before it gets to the roller. The roller is only pvc tube and that wont grab the ball as well. When our robot goes for a ball we want it to be ours.
Why not use tread on the roller to grip the ball?
Its what we had and its seems to be easy on the balls. Why fix something thats not broken?
The fingers also help if you approach the ball rather quickly. Instead of having a solid bar ramming into the ball trying to get a grip, you have things that will be pushing it down and toward the collector.
Interesting idea!!! Keep on working on it!
Thanks for the comments! Hope to show more when we start shooting!
Looking good across town guys! Can’t wait to see more!
Looks like I beat SuperNerd So
WELCOME TO CHIEF DELPHI!!! 
I like it btw
Like our collector in Breakaway.
If you find the tubing wrapping around the cylinder and causing problems, a few pieces of pneumatic tubing in addition to the latex will help a lot.
may i suggest a paddle wheel kind of thing with the paddles made out of pneumatic hose
Thanks guys for the comments. Any help is welcome. This is why it is a prototype can still try out different variations of tubes, paddles, and any other things. I think we will try some of the ideas on here. Thanks for all the input again!
Interesting mechanism I must say. We are working on something just as that and the added fingers makes this an even better way to pick balls.
We figured that something like this might help us get two or even three balls at a time (depending on their length).
Well I hope we can help get the ideas rolling for you guys!
It’s great that people are posting prototyping! Something to consider is that sometimes the dynamics of the intake change depending on what is moving. We built a great collector in 2006 when the balls were rolled into the collector, but it did not work when the collector rolled into the balls. :o
Be careful when you stick outside of your frame perimeter with those fingers if you mount it on an outer edge too.
As an aside,
Is there really a huge need for “Welcome to CD Posts”? I like to think it’s a pretty welcoming community on it’s own and posting “Welcome to CD” in really big font really just takes up space. CD doesn’t bite. 
A “Welcome to CD!” post has no value. I only put it as an aside from an actual reply to the post, with useful information in it. Plus, it makes the welcomed feel fuzzy inside! 
My team was planning on useing the red zip-tie things. And adding two of them on top of eachother to suck it up and force it vertically. But I like the Rubber idea it grabs a lot better than plastic.
And can I have a welcome?
Unfortunately, I only give it to people who just did their first post when I see it. You have 2. 
I’ll give you a smaller welcome anyways, though: welcome
Back to the thread, I love the ball grabber prototype! I think we may be using something like this on our bot! Is that regular surgical tubing, or is it a special kind?