My team does not have any flex wheels to use for an intake, what is a good alternative?
There are many possible intakes you could use for your robot.
Some options are…
Sprockets and Rubber Bands
I was paired with a team that used this at a local competition. It worked surprisingly well for them. Sorry for the grainy image quality but it’s the best photo I got.
Intake Flaps
This is another possible alternative and works quite well. It makes good contact with rings and picks them up quickly.
Hope this helps!
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That is helpful! The one I was thinking about more was the second option, since we have a surplus of intake flaps and our sister team used up most of the rubber bands.
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I ran into this exact same problem when building my intake system. I used some small wheels. Here is a picture of what it looks like:
Clever. Mine might not have enough clearance to do that tho
Even most traction wheels can be used for a flex wheel replacement.
You can also use a conveyor belt and hook the ring without even using a wheel. You would need to pair it with a mechanism that would prevent the ring from getting knocked away by the hook. I would recommend using plexiglass for the purpose as it is flexible and you can create a concave surface for the ring to mold to and travel along in that brief moment that it’s being pushed up by the conveyor hook.
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Woah. That… is… Not something I had thought of.
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Make sure that the mesh that you use is legal. I almost didn’t pass inspections at worlds because my coaches bought similar, but not identical mesh.
There was also this idea as an alternative to a season where flex wheels were the dominant intake thing
You could also take gears and wrap rubber bands around it