So I’m working with a bit of redesign with my team here. They didn’t like using pneumatics on their claw and are switching to a motorized one.
Previously, they had a hybrid claw with standoffs underneath that folded up.
With how their motors are gonna be placed on this claw now, being on the outside of the claw c-channel, they won’t be able to fold it up nicely. They will have to have it fold back around the robot.
I’m not seeing a way to keep that fold out claw. Has anyone made a motorized hybrid claw that folds in or around the robot?
I have my gearbox on hinges. The gearbox has rubber bands on a standoff that connect to a standoff on the lift. In auton, when I move my claw past a point, the tension due to the rubber bands forces the gearbox to flip down. The inordinate amount of rubber bands keeps the claw from folding back in. Hope that helps.
We have a foldout claw with standoffs. How we did it was to cut the claw arm into two pieces and attached hinges so that one could fold level to the other one. How we keep it in is rubber bands from the front to the back of the claw arm and we have pieces of plastic on the side of our drive. Once we lift up past the plastic, the rubber bands allow the arms to fold out and stay that way due to the rubber bands.
We have the claw fold out normally and just the forks fold down. This helps us be able to come down straight on cubes instead of backing up and going forward to pick the up.