loader ideas

FIRST General Forum
1

anyone have any loader ideas for the balls

2

We’re probably going to use some sort of roller. Basically you just have a spinning rod a few inches off the ground that pulls game pieces in as they touch the spinning roller. I recommend experimenting with different heights and materials to optimize it, but I can guarantee from experience that the general concept works great.

Another concept that I was kicking around a few days ago was a set of two arms that would extend out of your bot to the ground, tighten together around a ball caught in the middle, and lift back up to deposit in a hopper or shooter. Much slower and more complicated than a roller, but it could be useful for manipulating the bridge as well if you build it right.

Just a few for right now, might post more if any pop up.
Cheers :smiley:

3

Same, we’re using an idea we’ve found tried and tested from both 2006 and 2009: Polycord belting and sending it through a series of conveyors/elevators/whatever-you-want-to-call-them type applications. We’re also thinking of feeding them directly to a shooter, as the 3 ball limit sorta makes a hopper a moot point.
Hope your season goes well.

-Cal

4

great ideas

5

Thanks this really helpful. My team is being really slow on this concept.

6

Be careful, two arms sounds like two appendages which is not legal. According the latest official Q&A, at ANY point in time when something is breaking the plane of the vertical projection of the frame perimeter, it must be at most one contiguous assembly, contiguous at points outside the frame perimeter. So you have to be careful about how you extend those two arms out… they better be touching at the fingers, or something similar to that.

                         Game - The Game » Robot Actions » G21                             
                                                  Q. **Our  question is similar to FRC1540. We want to put surgical tubing "whips"  on a roller located at the frame perimeter. When this rotates the whips  will extend beyond the frame perimeter. Is each "whip" its own apendage  or is the assembly considered one appendage?**                                                                               
                    
                    
                                                                A. If  multiple items exit the Frame Perimeter and are not contiguous outside  the Frame Perimeter, they are considered multiple appendages.

… and…

Q: To prevent differing interpretations of G21 and the following Q&As on appendages could you address the legality of a appendage BRIEFLY crossing the frame perimeter in multiple places during deployment? For example, a “H” shaped appendage might cross in two places as it quickly folds out.

A. Any time the appendage is outside the Frame Perimeter, it must be a contiguous piece.