This question may have already been asked and answered, but for teams who are using the vertical post to lift their robot, how do you guys plan on aiming your robot. Right now I am having some trouble coming up with ideas to increase the chances of the robot being able to line up and drive accurately to the post to latch onto.
large opening that narrows down to a smaller…
Yes we are doing it as Drake suggests. Our pole grabber is aligned by a V-shaped interface that allows for a large degree of misalignment. Also our grabber opens up WIDE (>6") to allow for even more misalignment.
here’s one idea
Keep in mind that the field is green, with a 2 inch wide stripe running down the middle of it, conveniently straight under the tower. Perhaps you can find some type of photosensor that can detect that line, let you know whey you’re lined up correctly over it? Or you could mount the camera to the bot, feed the video back to the driver, and they can use the line as a reference in getting lined up.
All that said, I’ve found it’s important to include as much “slop” as possible in FIRST robots. If something requires you to be in exactly the right position, it’s not going to work during competition. The further from “ideal” position you can make it work, the better.
Works for FLL too:)
Section 6 even specifically states that any given dimension can vary by up to 1/4" and the entire field by up to 4" due to different setup crews at each event. If you can’t handle that type of variance, you’re doing something wrong.
Similar to what Dan said. We have a very large V shape, with a 12" opening narrowing down to grasp the pole. Also, we should have a camera feed to the driver’s station to give them a different angle to line up with.
Can’t help but wonder how the pictured gripper will avoid damaging the pole? Fair to assume some serious padding will be added to the parts that compress the pole?