Alright. Its that time in build season where the teasers stop, and the real bots come out. The lower arm tilts using the custom gearbox we designed for the van door motor (there is a picture in this gallery). The upper arm moves using the fisher price motor (and gearbox) also with a double reduction. It can move about 320 degrees (not sure on an actual speed yet … ). Finally, the upper arm telescopes and has a passive claw attached (not seen). The telescoping is accomplished using aluminum cable and a series of pullies. The 1x1" box aluminum that telescopes, is wrapped in nylon with notches cut for the cable. In short, we can put a tetra over 12.5 ft in the air in less than 10 seconds. And thats a vision tetra, a normal one would probally be faster.
It looks like a polar coordinate arm, but I can’t really tell, pls explain?
stainless cable not aluminum cable, cause that would just be craaaaazy. now if only we would get our wheeles we would be happy. can you define polar coordinate arm?
How’re gonna hang the tetras?
Sweet! Are you sending chain to the top? Hows it gonna be operating? It looks awesome!
-The Mode 
Did your arm knock out those ceiling tiles and/or make the divot in the wall?
We’ve done that in years past!
looks like an awesome arm. how long did it take to make it?
theres a passive claw at the end of the boom, i believe theres some pictures of it here already.
yes to chain, driven by a fp, with gearbox and some more sprocket reduction.
Didn’t do it this year, i think they might have done that last year, but im not sure since its my first year.
hmmmm, starts counting on fingers… continues to toes… uhhhh im thinking 2 weekends of solid work and the week between them, shifty eyes and one day of ditched school 
so to recap, the lower section tilts back and forth so we can -------censored------- then the upper part will swing up and down and telescope.
Nice job guys, do you have any problem with the tower flexing since there are not any vertical supports? You must have one really solid base!
In our other room, we actually took a few chunks out of the whiteboard, as well as taking a few chunks of wood out of the door frame.
The bots look ALOT easier to drive than they really are :rolleyes:
As for grabbing the tetras, you can see the prototype claw HERE. The final one is similar, with 1/32" aluminum plates on both sides of the fiberglass for extra stability.
Hopefully the wheels will get back from the machinist today, and we can get those on. The rest of the motors and chains shouldnt take too long. I predict it’ll be driveable by Saturday night … which was our deadline for the programmers anyways 
Base is VERY strong. Its 2x1" box. There is actually a small triangular support to keep the VD gearbox from twisting, but thats about it. Theres a better picture of the frame HERE
I dont remember the exact number, but that frame weighed about 13 pounds. As of now … (on paper) … we’re underweight by about 10 pounds.
Hi
Out of interest how is your claw going to let go of the tetra to put it on the goal.
oljomo
The claw is passive, which means it doesnt require any sort of power to work (hint hint: manual loader). Just get the tetra on top of the goal and drive backwards. The claw lets go of the tetra on its own.