Which type of Mechanism is generally faster at going up? (Arm or Elevator)

[system]

Any help will be appreciated, Thanks!

[meaubry]

Both can be made to be “fast”, but keep in mind that “fast” without control is not effective or efficient.
Fast rotational motion vs fast linear motion?
Rotational motion has to be able to control whatever mass is being held at whatever distance it is away from the pivot. This can be difficult to do without proper balance.
Linear motion generally is more controllable, because it is contained to a straight line motion.
With appropriate “control” both can be made to be effectve and efficient - and “fast” enough to do most tasks.

Hope this helps,
Mike

[T99]

If you’re looking for a ‘which is typically faster in FIRST’, in my experience arms are usually faster at moving something upwards, but take that with a grain of salt as it depends very heavily on your team’s unique design.

You can make either ‘fast’ with the right design.

[JustJoshin13]

If you are looking to be inspired by a fast elevator, I would recommend checking out 1114’s robot from 2011. According to their website, it could go from floor to top peg in 0.6 seconds.

[Maddie_Q]

An elevator will typically be fastest as the loading on the elevator remains mostly the same at any height unlike a arm. This makes optimizing things like gearing and PID loops easier. A arm will also generally require accelerating a larger amount of weight compared to an elevator which can cause additional issues.

We had one of, if not the fastest elevator in 2015. It required some pretty complex code to keep things in check. Motion profiling to prevent throwing game pieces. The actual control loop tuning was fairly straightforward because it was so linear. I think someone would struggle to achieve close performance with an arm.

[philso]

Both can be made to be “fast”, but keep in mind that “fast” without control is not effective or efficient.
Fast rotational motion vs fast linear motion?
Rotational motion has to be able to control whatever mass is being held at whatever distance it is away from the pivot. This can be difficult to do without proper balance.
Linear motion generally is more controllable, because it is contained to a straight line motion.
With appropriate “control” both can be made to be effectve and efficient - and “fast” enough to do most tasks.

Hope this helps,
Mike

This is where Newton’s Third Law of Motion may start having a significant effect. The game pieces in 2011 weighed very little so the manipulators could also be relatively light weight, allowing lighter arm structures. The can grabbers of 2016 could also be very light weight. This year, the cube is over 3 pounds and I am seeing prototypes of active intakes using pairs of motors plus gearboxes.

It would probably be of benefit for you to look at Kevin’s post in this thread. Otherwise, you might start breaking things when you start moving and/or you hit (literally) the end of travel.

[system]

An elevator will typically be fastest as the loading on the elevator remains mostly the same at any height unlike a arm. This makes optimizing things like gearing and PID loops easier. A arm will also generally require accelerating a larger amount of weight compared to an elevator which can cause additional issues.

We had one of, if not the fastest elevator in 2015. It required some pretty complex code to keep things in check. Motion profiling to prevent throwing game pieces. The actual control loop tuning was fairly straightforward because it was so linear. I think someone would struggle to achieve close performance with an arm.

Could I ask what motor, gearbox and gear ratio you used ?