Many people are building lifts that are powered by elastics and locked down by some mechanism. My question is what sort of form do these locks actually take? They need to be strong enough to withstand normal gameplay while still being able to unlock.
A lot of teams are using pneumatics to release the locks that they have on their lifts.
Yes but i am wondering how they actually incorporate the pneumatics or motors into unlocking the lift. Like where would you attach the piston/motor?
Making a key latch mechanism works. You can use c-channel and motors on a grand scale or a shaft that is ground down a bit to make a lock fitting inside a hole on a c-channel.
Some lifts use gravity to stay in place. You rotate up essentially so gravity starts pulling you on the robot after some tipping point.
Some fork lifts seem to stay up without the need of a lock
If you’re using a ramp that then elevates off of the ground, you can build a lock passively. The final bit of C-channel would need to be low enough so that about a 1/3 of the wheel is below. It would’t be able to move backwards.
One possible mechanism would be an axle sticking inside a hole on a c-channel and then being pulled out by pneumatics or a motor or whatever activation you want. The friction between the two parts would keep it secure during most normal driving.