A 118 member on reddit said that they used the steel tape to pull the bot up along with extending it, so somehow the used the tape as a winch
If the tape were inside a telescoping arm, wouldn’t the tape be protected from buckling?
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Possibly, I think it just depends a lot on the specifics of how the arm constrains the tape measure material. I wouldn’t say you’re fully absolved of the “pushing a rope” effect, you’re just mitigating it by adding extra structure around the tape measure.
Adding a guide tube definitely works to prevent buckling. The throttle cable of your lawnmower works that way for instance. You can buy similar push-pull cables commercially, but there’s a limit to how long they can be, and how much force you can apply before the friction from all of the little kinks in the cable pushing against the housing prevents you from moving.
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