Does anybody have a good idea that they can share with me for a robot for Tower Takeover?
You really have 2 choices. A stacker or a tower control bot. Tower control needs to be able to lift everything and put it in towers. a stacker needs to be able to grab as many blocks as possible at once. I’d look at some videos and get some ideas
Search for tower takeover on YouTube and other sites and you’ll see a whole world of ideas.
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You could watch any of the finals from China to get ideas for your robot.
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Check youtube
2o char
If you watch any of the compititions from china or japan you can get lot of great ideas as well as looking at other teams robot reveals.
Don’t forget though to try and add your own spin on things to. If you see a design and think you can change something to make it different and better go for it.
Please, please check the forums and the internet for things like this before posting, there are so many threads about this already.
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YES! Even if you do get i great idea from the web it is still so cool to see the twists and ideas that can come from one persons design. So please don’t copy a design entirely put your own twists on it.
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If you need a quick and easy design because a competition is looming over you, keep it simple. The V5 claw is pretty decent for towering if you can get creative with it. A two motor drive, one motor four bar lift (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IXAykEBfMw) and the v5 claw mounted facing down will allow your team to be an effective tower scoring bot / stacker.
As for autonomous driving backwards and then driving forwards will allow you to swing autonomous in your favor in the case of a stalemate, which happens often at least for me.
It’s great to see you getting active with the Vex community, if you need instant help with more specific challenges or problems the Vex Unofficial Discord is a great resource. (https://discord.gg/AZBmtFN)
E: If you want to learn more about general robot design elements I would check out Kepler Electronics’ Youtube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSSHU5lpnVYV2THBr2KNoyg) He makes great educational robotics videos and isn’t limited to just Vex.
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You could watch any of the finals for China to get ideas.
I’ve been watching a lot of the finals in china and a recurring design is almost like a ramp with two treads on the sides that can pull the cubes up onto the ramp and can be put in the goal zones.
Yes we refer to those as tray bots
Really you can build anything. Note CAN not SHOULD 
. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that a LOT of people are going to build tray bots. But there will also be people that build wall bots, or push bots even. Some teams will focus on placing cubes in towers, some teams will focus on stacking cubes. All in all, just build a robot that you think will solve the challenge. Good luck!
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Another design that i’ve seen are the bots with the squares on the front that stack cubes straight up with string, but none of them have worked super well or efficiently.
(I have no idea what any of the technical names of the robot designs)
So here are the different designs I’ve seen so far.
This is a basic lift bot. Can have many different claw/intake designs, but this gets the general idea across.
PROS:
-Good at towers.
-Typically handles defense fairly well
-Many different designs to chose from to accomplish the goal.
-Ability to stack on existing stacks
-Good motor distribution. Easy to get away with not using many motors, gives you a bit more freedom.
-Can score all towers
Now with this design you won’t outpace most other designs, so you need to make sure you play the colors smart.
Cons
-Tipping hazard
-Slower at picking up cubes
-Smaller payload. Most I’ve ever seen is 6 cubes for this strategy.
This is what we call a tray bot or a tilter. Typically limited on execution, but you could probably find a way to add your own twist if you build something similar to this.
PROS
-Insanely fast at picking up cubes
-Capable of holding very large payloads. I’ve seen up to 12 in China.
-Nice motor distribution. Can make this bot very solid and still have a strong motor drive.
-Can score low towers.
CONS
-Susceptible to defensive strategies when holding a large payload.
-Risky stack deployment. Can sometimes push the stacks over when trying to set them down.
-Can’t score high tower
This is a combo of the previous two designs. It’s a tilter mounted on a lift, and acts as a jack of all trades. Can do any strategy that’s needed.
PROS
-Can score all towers
-Can grab cubes as fast as a tilter
-Can hold a decently large payload. I’ve seen up to 8.
-Can handle any strategy needed of it. (Except maybe defense)
CONS
-Only have three motors left over for drive. Leaves you with a weaker drive train.
-Susceptible to defense due to weak drive.
These are all the designs I’ve seen so far. They all have variations in designs and the way they do things, I’m more focusing on the strategy involved, and remember, don’t be afraid to try your own thing.
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My team has been working on a tray bot we have been optimizing the tray opening.
Thank you, this was sort of what I was looking for!
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