Maybe they’re talking about something similar to FRC Team 118 Robonauts’ 2013 Climb: Team 118 Robonauts 2013 - YouTube Skip to 1:57 for the climb. This design seems incredibly challenging for a vertical pole and VEX parts though.
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It would just attach itself to the pipe and then wheel up, rotating to evade the pipe that goes from the pipe to the wall
I like this idea. You mentioned rotating around the pole, how would you go about that?
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When I watched Vex reveal Over Under live, I thought of this design. The issue that’s going to make it unusable is locking the wheels. You could try setting the brake to hold, but I don’t think the robot can hold itself up like that with how heavy the robot is. You could create a separate locking system, but it would use up way too much space. Also, in your pros, how is a heavier weight good, especially in Over Under with its endgame?
Not an idea by me, but here is something interesting:
For the pole climbing aspect of the game, this video was circulating in my Youtube recommendations for a while 2 years ago…
The torque produced by the robot against the pole provides the friction to engage the wheels. Pretty clever if you ask me. 
personally I think some kind of 4 bar, 6 bar, or cascade lift mechanism would be better or faster… maybe. 
Hard to say until we start designing, note booking, building, and all that good stuff. 
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I really like this idea but how will you ensure you maintain grip especially after power is cut after the match will you use rubber bands or something else?
I think this design is possible to do if you do the things that are shown in this link. To get around the pole, instead of rotating the robot you could use the technique that team 118 Robotnauts used in the link shared by @lettucejr of having two claws that each open and close to get past the horizontal pole.
another viable idea is that you can use 4 piston drive and 8m lift for climb
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We would be using omni wheels, and probably just two small wheels in the back corners to spin the omni wheels (and thus the entire robot around) when we needed it to. The only thing would be that we would have to stop the robot when we wanted to rotate, otherwise the rotating wouldn’t really work (due to the omni wheels two directional movements
I wouldn’t say viable, because even though the piston drive is a thing, its kinda only for the lolls. You could do four motor drive and four motor lift, but then you have a weak drive train compared to all the 6 motor drive trains. What sucks about this year’s endgame is that in order to be successful in it, you have to dedicate almost all your robot to it, unlike spin up where you could just attach a few string shooters and call it a day.
That’s a pretty bold hot take; will see how well it ages - I’m assuming you mean something other than simply “A lighter robot probably has an easier elevating than a 35 pound robot”
Or share some motors.
Also, I just found this video, and it’s very promising. Vex over under Climber concept reveal and semester final video - YouTube. The arm can double as a catapult, it uses a total of two motors for endgame, allowing for an 6 motor drive, and is compact enough to still be lightweight. It’s also incredibly simple. Any thoughts?
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Having a lighter robot is a necessity, regardless of what game you are playing. What I’m trying to say here is that even though, like most over under reveals so far, you can just add a stand-off to a catapult, that’s like having a 5-tile expansion, it does work, but only technically. To get an amazing endgame in over under, you need to design your robot with the main mechanism being climbing. Basically, you need to either spend no time in endgame, and focus all your attention on the regular match, or focus on endgame, and build your robot from there. It’s possible, but currently we don’t have any promising designs, apart from the video that I mentioned above. Hope you understand what I’m saying, that an endgame bot (kinda like the pushbot that we had in spin up)is likely, because this year’s endgame is going to be tough to incorporate. Again,I hope this makes sense.
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I bet you can have a 2motor cata, a 6 motor drive base in reverse, an 8 motor drive base going forward, and an 8 motor elevation. Just have to work out the ratchets.
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Wow. That’s a lot of motors!
So a slingshot/puncher works on a completely linear track where as a catapult uses a rotational motion. Take a look at turning point robots to get a sense (puncher bots vs. catas)
Yeah, change up style flywheels seem promising as long as the shots are fast and consistent.
It’s a solid design, but I don’t think it’s optimal because it can’t shoot very quickly in autonomous.