We are attempting to mount the climber for our bot, but we don’t really know the best way to have it deploy. Whether it be a pin that releases which causes the springs to deploy, or something else. We need some ideas.
What climber are you trying to mount and what does the rest of your robot structure look like right now?
we are using the climber in a box, we are going with a bot that is similar to the kitbot.
Generally you would just run your winch in reverse to let the springs pull the climber up to height. If you want a faster deployment you could work on a pin release or latch, but using what’s already there seems to be the easiest/best solution.
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Just running the winch to allow the climber to spool out should be enough. This year’s climb is only a very small vertical distance above the ground, so the time to extend climbers is much less of a factor since the chain is so close to your robot .(assuming you’re not doing trap)
Just to add on to this, with brushless motors, the climber should be able to elevate as fast as you would want it moving. I threw some very conservative numbers together, and you could raise your climber 36" in a second and a half using NEOs and the climber would only draw 35 amps to lift 308 pounds.
I doubt you need it to move you that far or lift that much weight so those numbers should be a worst case scenario. And that would be about 18in./second which is a pretty good speed. Controlling the arm by winching out your lift cable has the added benefit of meaning your lift cable is always under tension.
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Thanks
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Remember that you need to hang after power is shut off from the bot. You’ll need some mechanism to prevent zero-power motors from spinning in reverse and lowering you to the ground.
is there a way
to make a racheting system
or has anyone done it yet?
Make im not sure about, but some COTS options exist for ratchets.
Option one: 1/2" ratcheting wrench + 1/2" hex shaft
Option two: am-4424
Option three: Friction Brake & Ratchet – WestCoast Products
I don’t do mechanical, I just memorize FRC COTS parts. Option 1 is probably the fastest to get working, you just will have a interesting time finding a place to mount it.
Yes, but you may also be able to get away with keeping your motors in brake mode if you have a high enough gear ratio. I’m not sure how to calculate this however. A rachet will also be somewhat difficult if you don’t want to start with the arms fully up because in that case you’ll have to move the climb motors both directions or design another system to raise the climber.
Another option is using something along the lines of a bicycle disk brake or a servo actuated pin to hold the climber up, although I don’t really know more than that they’re options.
using a single NEO motor on a 64:1 gearbox and a winch with about 2" diameter pulley, we don’t have any trouble staying up while robot power is on, even when disabled. When power is switched off, the motor turns more freely.
I don’t understand it, but it works.
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Currently our bot doesn’t get off the ground, our arm is too off center for a pivot point and there is too much weight on one side for it to climb as is. I’m wondering if it would be best to put two arms in the center going straight up vs our current arm which is aligned next to the bumper and at a 55 degree angle. I feel like we could fit 2 going at 90 degrees and keep them perfectly in the center
Can you climb to one side and use “lean against the truss to balance the robot”? That does require a higher reach to get to the chain…
If you are using Versaplanetary gearboxes, VEX has a ratchet stage available.
https://www.vexrobotics.com/217-6048.html
I have used it in the past, but with a climber that unspools the winch to raise, you may need to design something to allow the ratchet to release.
In the past, I have had some success removing the button from the ratchet stage and just driving a piston directly into the stage when we needed it to lock.
Something like team 219’s climb, if you need a visual aid:
It’s hard to give a really technical explanation without a picture or more information on the robot. But as a very, very broad generalization, your robot is going to “rotate” around the point of contact with the chain until the center of gravity is under the chain, unless the robot contacts something to brace upon first.
Do you have a picture or drawing you could share?
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Also requires a hook that locks on to one of the links in the chain, especially if doing harmony.
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