I have an idea to use wheels to grip the pole and climb up it. Is this illegal or is it okay to do?
You can use that. The wheels might slip off though because the pole is round.
The pole is hollow, so I think a hook-and-lift is the simplest and easiest method to go with.
It is legal. I could actually see this working if built right. I think you would have to have wheels on the far and close side of the pole, the far one higher than the close one (which would be the hard part). Cool idea!
Kind of like how a rollercoaster grips the track
Maybe like robonauts FRC lift. You would not neet 2 claws, just 1 claw and the rotating wheel.
They show the lift at 2:00
Thanks for the help but would the pole crack if i used that technique?
Probably not. The poles are pretty strong.
The lift that they use could actually work well with the small rubber green wheelshttp://www.robotmesh.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/1280x/040ec09b1e35df139433887a97daa66f/2/_/2.75_wheel.jpg