Hello, im looking for others oppinions on what the best type of manipulater might be. My first design was a forward dump fork type bot with an 8bar, i recently improved opon the design by making the fork more effective and making the base more efficient with the design by adding a larger footprint.
The Fork i used was 2 L-Channels with 3 standoff rods in the middle for a capacity of 5 stars max
I want to do a new design, but need feedback on what works best :3
I think a claw is probably best due to its large capacity and ease when driving. And yes we don’t have a claw 
Reverse claw dumpers are simple, fast, and can hang.
Supa easy to build =))
Claws as wells as side rollers.
The sideroller design is just so simple.
I agree, siderollers seem like they could be pretty deadly when done correctly :3
Just think it was interesting which of those examples that you declared to be more simple than the other. Not disagree.
My team have a reverse dumper using two turntables to power it. The intake for objects it a 7 prong fork made of standoffs. We were thinking about a claw at the end of the arm but we didn’t like how heavy it made the arm (at the time we had a limited amount of motors, only a total of two for the dumping arm) and because of that we made a pneumatic claw that attaches too the base. It allowed us to clamp around objects, pull them to the fence, open the claw and then dump them over. And the claw didn’t move with the arm. So far it was worked pretty good although we are working on a couple of issues.
The picture is from when the claw was motor powered and the prongs were axles but it’s the same idea. We found that a motor power claw is only good if the gears are physically synced, otherwise one of the claw arms could get caught and they won’t be aligned anymore. That’s why we switched to pneumatics
Also, I like the string and pully to move the In take fork. I’ve never seen that on a robot, very cool
Our original scoop (pronged intake) actually had a much higher capacity than any claw I’ve seen, but I definitely agree that claws allow for easier and better driving, and since driving efficiency is such a huge part of this year’s game, that makes claws much more appealing.
Simplicity: Forks
Effectivity: Side rollers (If done right)
Balance between the two: Claw
Just my opinion though.
The problem with putting side rollers on ryan’s bot is how close together the stands are and how inefficient the 8-bar design he has is, he just hasn’t had time to improve it. One of the other teams is already working on a side-roller + pneumatic dump + 4-bar design, So would recommend he goes with a claw
+1 to this
Side rollers require a complete rebuild ~75% of the time.
If i went side rollers i would space out the towers and go down to a 6bar, the 2 fork motors would go to the intakes :3
There isn’t enough time for that before the next comp, you would need to do an entire base rebuild too, basically you’re looking at a brand new bot and you’re only in 1 class period
We use a fork to have lots of lift power (no motors on intake). The most stars we’ve lifted at once is 7. We got 5 over. When we lift 6, we usually get them all over. Our robot doesn’t have to break up clumps - it just lifts the whole thing. Very nice to have that kind of power.
Thanks for the advise :3
Claws and side rollers are probably the best designs out there. With side rollers, your entire base must be made to support the side rollers. Claws are, in my opinion, simpler and require less time to perfect. If you are looking for a quick rebuild, then going from a dumper to a claw shouldn’t be too hard. We currently have moved on from a pure side roller bot and have a robot that is wierd, but efficient.
May I ask what this bot is?