Climber in a box creep?

Technical
1

Hello! I am back with another question.

Our team is planning to use modified climber in the boxes to climb up on the chain this year, but we are encountering a problem we had in 2022 (Rapid React) with them, where our robot starts sliding down when the robot is powered off, because the climbing motors are no longer running. This wasn’t a huge deal in 2022 but because the chain is so low to the ground this year, if our robot slides down after the match has ended we won’t get points if it touches the ground.

We solved this problem in 2022 by just adding another set of hooks to hold the robot at the height the climbers pulled it to, but I was wondering if other teams had other (smaller) solutions for locking the climbers in place so our robot doesn’t slide down?

Thank you!!

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2

As long as your robot stays up for the 5 seconds after the match ends, the climb will count. If its falling before then you can try increasing the gear ratio, or a slightly more complicated solution could be adding some kind of ratchet

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3

Another option (depending on the mechanical setup) would be to attach a piece of polycarbonate to act as a hook on the non extended portion of the climber. It slides past the chain (bending/deflecting slightly) then hooks over as the climber pulls past. On the way back down the hooks catch the chain, taking the load off of the back driving extended portion of the climber.

This is a very simple solution, I am happy to elaborate more with a drawing if need be.

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4

You could also use motor braking if you aren’t already

5

I think I understand, but I’m not sure this will work for us because we want to be able to drive underneath the chain.

6

Only works until power cuts, then the robot needs to hold without it for 5 seconds. Brake mode can help, but might not be enough.

7

using a worm gear might be helpful to prevent your robot from sliding after the power cuts off

8

You could get around that by having the polycarb hooks mounted on to a static frame which rests higher than the initial height of the climber, that way once your climber pulls all/most of the way down it’s hook would be under the “frame” part and the polycarb hooks would attach. (In case you want I can probably whip up a quick sketch in paint)

In our robot (5987 2024 Build Thread ) we wanted to be able to go up and come back down to do multiple traps, so we had to implement a not so passive system (there probably were some other options, that was the easiest for us to implement) that would break the climbing elevator with a servo near the end of the match. If that’s important for you guys you’re welcome to look at our thread and CAD and take whatever inspiration you want from there :slight_smile:

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9

My team last year used Andy mark ratcheting gear box. We loved them for how they worked holding it when ingaged with pneumatics!

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10

Fear my MS Paint skills.

Untitled

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11

You could also use a gatelatch. When the climber pulls all the way down the gatelatch would engage keeping it from going back up.

12

Thank you!! This makes sense

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Thank you very much guys for your recommendations and advice!! I will talk with my team during our meeting tomorrow and show them what you guys suggested.

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