Any ideas on how to maneuver around cones on the ground? They can get in the way with a flat drivebase, and possibly even cause you to get a DQ for holding multiple cones. I was thinking of using a mobile goal forklift on the back of a robot that is motorized such that it can move inwards, creating a nose to move cones away as the robot drives towards a mobile goal. This might not be possible with internally stacking robots, as the mobile goal lifting mechanism might be entirely in the robot. Any other ideas?
Clarifications of the rules have indicated that merely moving around and controlling the movement of multiple cones is not illegal. As long as you’re not hoarding them, you should be good
To clarify, it is fully legal to push cones out of the way if you don’t intend to hoard them.
About the original question, there are quite a few ideas going around about solving this problem, but here are the 2 I like best.
1.) Just intake the cones. Especially for an external stacker, it’s extremely easy just to pick up and score whatever cones get in your way. Not only does it save time, but it allows you to clear out a path towards the mobile goal you want to intake.
2.) Place lexan guides on your drive. These can just be thin pieces of lexan angled out and ziptied on, but the basic idea is to push any cones to the side and away from your robot. If they’re low enough to the ground, they won’t tip the cones over or require too much force, and they’re extremely lightweight, simple, and easy to build.
Hope this is helpful!
For the robot my team is currently working on, however, to clarify, it uses a reverse double 4 bar and a mobile goal forklift on the back of the rd4b lift. So any stacking takes place on a mobile goal that is not currently carried by the robot. That said, I do not think it will be quicker to stack. Either you will need a robot that can reach over cones if there are a bunch stuck between the robot and a goal, or you will have to do a lot of turning back and forth to stack onto a goal.
What exactly would these lexan guides look like? Can you post a few pics of them?