Using Pneumatics

[Ryan Dognaux]

Originally Posted by Vex1622

Does anyone think that the pneumatics only can lift a bucket all the way to the trough?

It's very possible though using elastic assistance via elastic tubing or rubber bands. Check out the DiscoBots robot from Gateway: https://vimeo.com/40536229 (Look ~0:40 seconds for the pneumatic cylinders raising and lowering their arm)

They used pneumatics to raise and lower their arm, allowing them to have more motors on their drive. How well it actually performed, I'm not sure - but it's definitely not par for the course in VEX, so I think it's pretty cool.

[bgambsky]

Originally Posted by Ephemeral_Being

Sounds perfect. But I was planning to use Pneumatics with a button on the Joysticks. Same procedure? Just look for a pneumatic block? Or is there a something I'm missing?

Your able to use multiple selenoids and buttons on the controller to control as many pneumatic pumps as you want. There is no limit, which can be an advantage AND a disadvantage. The more pumps you use (depending on how many you plan to use) you will add more weight, including the tanks. So use them wisely, but it sounds you're only buying one kit so that won't be a problem. Good luck with them they're the best thing for our robots in the past years

[nickd2012]

Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux

It's very possible though using elastic assistance via elastic tubing or rubber bands. Check out the DiscoBots robot from Gateway: https://vimeo.com/40536229 (Look ~0:40 seconds for the pneumatic cylinders raising and lowering their arm)

Our arm worked very well. We used two double action pistons, one on each arm. We used a massive amount of latex on each arm (20-35 feet??). The arm was tensioned so that it favored the middle of its range of motion.

If I did it again I would use >2 single action pistons to raise the arm up and 1 single regulated to a lower power + gravity to bring it down. This would conserve air.

In our case it was very important to keep the latex fresh.

Wasabi had a very cool multi stage pneumatic arm. Ours passively adapted between the medium and high goals.