I tend to disagree. The purpose of the clawbot and protobot were mainly to help newly formed VRC teams be able to build a robot and compete with it in order to be able to learn. Towards the beginning of the season, there will be robots that have a unique design or are clawbots or protobots. As the season goes on and gets closer towards Worlds, the amount of unique designs start to diminish because everyone is trying to build the one similar design that seems to be dominant in the game. With teams being able to join whenever during the season, there could be a few clawbots in the tournaments. Banning clawbots from tournaments would just cause new teams to lose the chance of being able to get some experience competing with other teams and learning about how the competition system works.
My point exactly!!!
How do you make VRC Challenging Enough for the Senior Teams, but Approachable for the Rookie Teams???
Part of Engineering is understand the Problem, from many Angles/Views/Perspectives, not just the Most Obvious or Prevalent View.
I still “catch myself” saying, “That is Dumb. Why didn’t they do…”… Then I feel “dumb”, when someone explains, “why” That was Done, That Way… Hence the Phrase, “Open Mouth, Insert Foot”…
And we can do our part, by answering questions about Vex for the Newbies ( and the Veterans too )…
Does anyone have a picture/specs of this new claw-bot?
- Sunny G.
I believe the “claw-bot” is simply a protobot with a different manipulator and all the motors being 393s. One of the demonstrations was showing it hang itself off a gateway goal.
Thinking of how Sack Attack is designed:
Floor Goals: Square bots can contribute
Trough Height: Claw-bots can contribute
This makes the game more accessible for new teams, which is never a bad thing.
Claw bot is a hobbyist robot much more than a competion robot it is “cool” and basic good for building practice.
personally it is a waste of money except for new teams.
A well built clawbot with drivers that have practiced driving can score well. Prior year games have had elements that the claw could work on. Gateway was the first year that the claw could not get a good grip on the elements.
I’ve seen teams improve on the claw to make a wider “hand span”. I’ve seen a wider claw pick up three Elevation cubes at a time. So it should be possible to grab more than one element at a time this year.
And who says it needs to be a single claw? That’s why there are two people operating the robot. Multi claws on arms on top of the turntables!
All Hail the Clawbot!
I think the claw does give new teams a better chance in this game, I’m very happy to see that it’s now part of the basic kit. New teams will have a chance to focus on bases and arms early then work on other designs later on. It’s always easier to improve on a design.
Remember you were a rookie at one time! :rolleyes:
Stating that a clawbot should be banned is…maybe a little too much. I can tell you from experience, any ‘newbie’ team will go straight for a clawbot design. They see that as the quickest to build and the easiest and blah blah blah, when in reality it isn’t. What I think is one of the best parts about VEX is the process of trial and error. Constantly having to edit and improve your robot, sometimes having to redesign a new robot completely, is part of this competition. That’s part of the challenge! And I don’t see how a team can have a clawbot that is “too good.” Clawbots can be good, but they take a lot of work to perfect, something that won’t happen until later in the season. Now of course a team can have a good clawbot…but it’s more fun to have original designs. Maybe someone else has a different opinion, but that’s how I feel: Outlawing clawbots won’t let people go through trial and error.
Could someone post a link, or an image or something so I know what your talking about. I think I do but just to clarify, that would be great
The VEX Clawbot is shown in the starting position diagrams in the Sack Attack manual. It’s the replacement for the Protobot.
This should be it:
[ATTACH]6226[/ATTACH]
How is that too good. I would think it would be highly inefficient. whats up with that
Think of this…
New teams will be able to compete without getting destroyed, yet they will be able to learn from other teams
And remember you don’t want a team that doesn’t have a working robot as your alliance partner.
Concisely Said!!! 
It has been stated before, but as a pleasant reminder, “You were, once-upon-a-time, a naive Rookie. Have patience for the current, naive Rookies.”
Eh… Just remember that teams using the proto bot often STILL didn’t have working robots. 
Some how that is true
When we were naive rookies, we built a protobot to practice programming. Before our first competition, our mentors made it a point to take the protobot away.
Our rookie design was actually pretty effective, and very unique. The only reason we made the Eliminations as a 3rd pick at our first tournament was because the 8th Seed team liked my t-shirt, but by our next tournament, our robot had improved greatly, and we were a picking team. This just goes to show that rookies don’t need a pre-designed kitbot to succeed.
2 of the teams at rex hosts sack attack were first and 2nd for most of the day with claw bots:cool:
that just made my day! 
An Excellent Move!!
They let you experience the victory of success, by building the Protobot, and Programming it, but then Challenged you ( as a team ) to do better…
So your design was effective, but you did not make the Eliminations on your design ( Ver 1.0 ). But the next Design got you to the Eliminations because it was greatly improved ( Ver 2.0 ).
[an aside]
Every Team and the Individuals that make it up are different… Some will intuitive know what will work, others will have a general idea, and some will be totally lost… ( I have been in each of those positions, at one time or another… ) [/an aside]
Do you think that your first Tournament would have gone as well, if you tried to use the first Vex Robot you ever built? Either the Protobot or your own Design. “Nothing can replace Experience…” Congratulations on progressing so far by your Second Tournament…
In thinking of Quotes I have heard, and looking them up… I found a couple that could be applicable…
“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
and
“No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”
Colin Powell
I am very glad that Vex Robotics is accessible to Teams at All Levels…
Actually, the two designs weren’t extremely different. V2 was basically V1 made slightly taller and much more reliable. The problem with V1 was the fact that the chain lift was made of small chain, which snapped when we tried to lift more than 2 objects. V2 used thick chain, so it was very robust.
There aren’t many such ways to improve a clawbot for a tournament. There’s not much there to expand on, so I will frown upon rookies that use them.