To add onto that, we use two large cylinders instead of springs which is what seems like most teams are doing. I also recommend a single hook because at FiM Southfield most teams had two hooks and had more difficulty than us climbing.
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We’re using a chain system, with a 15t sprocket. We are using a custom gearbox with a 10t pinion on the motor to a 42 and then 14:42.
Here’s a match video of it working.
Welp, we aren’t going to Buckeye, so GGs!
Thanks again to everyone who responded! My team is still going to try to fix our robot during the off-season. Good luck!
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We have two drawer slide lifts with a 775 pro powering the winch to bring them up. Once they are up we have two lazer cut hooks, with two 1/4 20 bolts attached to either side, that slide into cuts in a sheet metal plate. Those bring it up, then once we lower the slides, and the hooks are on the bar we use a toughbox mini with two falcons powering it to winch our robot up along ropes attached to the hooks. Here are some photos of our robot: 3374 2020 Robot
Edit: Sorry if i’m not the best at explaining it, i’m just a driver monkey trying my best 
Hopefully, the team members who have dominated the design during the build season won’t care so much during the off-season, giving the rest of the team a chance to try out their ideas. I have seen a couple of local teams do just this.
Edited to add: You can also learn from the successes and failures of the current design and use that knowledge in the coming months or in future seasons.
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For our winch system, we used falcons to drive the motors for pulleys that has a lot of tension. Our spools are on the outside of our robot, 2 ropes (one acts as a safety rope) leading to 1 spool on each side (we have 4 ropes in total, 2 ropes on either side). They are both driven by the same axle. We used 2 ratcheting wrenches on either side of the axle bolted to the robot, that has a switch to change the direction of the ratchet. For hook deployment, we used heavy duty 2 drawer slides riveted together. We made pulleys that are 2 nylon spacers enclosed to keep the rope from falling off. We have 4 in total, with a continuous rope system. Those roped lead to spools also sitting on the outside of our robot. Both spools are driven by the same axle as well, by a bag motor. Our hooks, designed to “lock” onto the bar. They have sort of ramp design that guides the hook around the bar to help the driver be less specific. Those hooks are secured onto a bar that our winching system is tied to. Those hooks have long bolts sticking out, and those passively sit in a slot that are permanently attached to the top of the slide lifts. When it is time to climb, we raise the slide lifts, pushing the hooks against the bar, lower the slide lifts only a few inches, and winch. Another thing that we do, is instead of having our ropes spooled during a match, we have it unwinded and stored in cardboard cups (saves weight). This description is kind of blunt, but here are a couple of photos of our robot that you can see our hooks, and the spools on the outside. Good luck! Our robot!
Edit: Our climb has been pretty efficient so far, and when we’re practicing we’re climbing in 15-20 sec without all the programming finished, and we’ve only had 2 days to really practice with it. I also replaced the kevlar for the drawer slides today, so they should be going up a little more smoothly! Hopefully that proves true in comp haha!
It may not be much use for you now, but here’s the pictures of what we did.
There’s a short video of it in action (it was taken quickly, so I released it by hand as the robot wasn’t enabled) just showing the mechanism.
I think we made it in an afternoon - there isn’t much to it, it folds down nicely, and can bend back without any problem.
There is a hook loosely attached to the end of each arm during the game, that is tied to paracord which in turn passes through a jam cleat and to a winch. Each winch is a bag motor using a 45:1 versaplanetary gearbox so that either winch has enough power to lift the robot on its own. The jam cleats we grabbed from a boating store, and they do a fantastic job of keeping it from sliding back down. When the arms extend we drive forward until the hooks catch, then drive forward a bit more until the hooks have detached and the arms are on the other side of the bar. We’re still tweaking the hooks and the length of the arms, and, of course, haven’t been to comp yet, but the design did work for Stronghold.
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Picture from another thread sort of explaining how this climber works.
To pull up the drawer slides, we winch up the rope that is on the pulleys on the drawer slides which then pulls all the stages of the climber up the the desired height. The rope then wraps on the white wheel that can be seen in the image below.
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Here’s the link to the drawer slides that we used.
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