:ahh: Check this out!! The Robo-“Devils’ Tower”. Zero to 11.5 feet at only about 40% power applied to the CIM/Dewalt combo in low gear :yikes: . Now we just have to add the arm and gripper on the top. Well, if the final bot doesn’t work maybe we can climb up this bean-stalk and go after the golden goose … or get a few heads of cabbage and make everyone some coleslaw 
absolutly beautiful, and it’s not just because I am a 1018 alumnus.
Well done guys, well done.
and heres more, going a little faster:
video
wow, awesome work. What’s the max height the arm can reach?
Our nominal design indicates we will be able to score three tetras on the center goal (which is equivalent to about 7 on the lower goals), but we have yet to test the completed configuration.
That is awesome. Now I know what my sister meant when she said you guys were having trouble finding a place with high enough cielings to practice. 
Eric
Wow that looks really sweet…looks very smooth…wow 4 (i think?) sections thats incredible.
Wow… this is a stable, smooth, productive lift. Great job, 1018.
Stu - don’t stick your tongue in those holes while it is going up.
Andy B.
All I can say is WOW! I can’t wait for4 the details on how it works.
Impressive. Although I am left wondering how you’re going to attach a tetra onto that telescoping tower…
~R
No worries … we have a telescoping arm that mounts to the top of the tower, and a passive gripper on then end of the arm. All of the mechanisms should be integrated tonight, giving us a bit of that all-important practice time before ship - a first for us!!
That is a beautiful lift. I can’t wait to see it in person. Just wondering - what kind of material is used? Since there is so much of it, my obvious guess is aluminum, but is it 1/16" thick? 1/8"?
Keep up the great work!
Kev
The tower sections are made from .100 thick sheet aluminum - waterjet cut in halves then precision bent. Each of the four sections weighs about 10.5 pounds, and the stages are rigged in a cascading style with two sets of cables on opposite corners. This baby will be performing at the Boilermaker regional.
Thanks to all for the kind words.
When it comes to grippers, Stu Bloom knows how to design awesome grippers!!! After all, when he was on 234 his was so good and 50lbs overweight that we had to scrap it! 
Nice job 1018. I can’t wait to see the whole robot in action!
By the way Dave,
Stu’s 234 gripper holds a place of honor on the shelves of Team 1018.
As you remember… the gripper was given to Stu when he left the “dark” side and joined the RoboDevils…
CYA at the Boilermaker
what kind of cables are you using? and how is it strung up? just 2 peices, or is there one peice for each side of each section?
We are using galvanized steel aircraft cable (7 x 7) 1/16 inch diameter. It has a breaking strength of 480 lb which gives us a safety factor of around 6 for our maximum static loading conditions. I’m just a bit unsure if that will be enough to handle all of the dynamic loads we might see but we hope to test it heavily over the next couple of days. The tower sections were cut flat patterns in halves, then bent and joined together in the middle of the side panel area - that way we got good straight and parallel corners and did not have to worry about welding distortion fouling up our critical fits. As I mentioned previously we used the cascade style of rigging - a good simple explanation can be found HERE
I will try to post some pictures either tonight or tomorrow.
If 234 is the dark side would that make me Lord Sith or Darth Vader? If Vader thats cool but if Lord Sith I would have a problem in the fact that all you can see is his lower chin and I am a little chin deficient.
After checking this for spelling I am realizing that my jockness is slowly slipping away. :o