Does anyone know if motors will still be set to coast at the end of the game this year? Also do pneumatics keep their position when the game is over if they’re extended?
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This is the standard, probably at least partly as a safety measure. See for example:
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As soon at the timer expires, TM will set all motors to coast, however pneumatics will stay extended after the timer expires. But I encourage you to think of multiple ways to keep your robot elevated even if the motors will not be able to hold their position, if you are thinking of buying pneumatics and they are still out of stock. (Hint: How might you have kept a catapult in a retracted starting position in Spin Up?)
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Alternatively, you can always find a way to have an over-centered joint, which would make whatever you use to grab into the elevation pipe stay closed even after the motors are set on coast.
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That’s going to make the game so much more difficult. Even if the latching mechanism was passively stable, how about the wheels that drive the robot up (assuming it is a 4 wheel hub clamped to the pole. Alternatively there might be other solutions that don’t involve the use of wheels. Otherwise we will need a dedicated claw to lock the robot in place.
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Vex was intending for endgame to be an engineering challenge, and reading forum threads and watching discord channels, Vex has made a challenging, yet rewarding endgame. You can always hang on the crossbar instead of climbing all the way to the top of the pole. This won’t get you as many points as a robot at the top of the pole, but your elevated and contributing points for your team. This endgame should also be much more exciting to watch as a spectator (and this game in general). Some ideas i’ve seen floating around is using a lift that uses the cap to pull yourself up, then a seperate claw to lock yourself to the pole.
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The rules state that you are not elevated if you touch the cap. There is nothing within the rules that state you aren’t allowed to touch the cap. Using the cap to pull yourself up is completely legal, however you would need a separate mechanism to hold onto the elevation pole, and then let go of the yellow cap.
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From my initial reading of the rules… Nothing says you can’t touch the cap and use it to elevate. But you would have to no longer be touching it once elevated.
I can envision a robot reaching over the top of the cap, pulling itself up, clamping on to the pole and then raising the lifting device off the cap before time expires.
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You are allowed to touch the cap and use it to climb, just if you end the match touching the cap it will not count. so you must simply release from it.
This was one of my first ideas but I have made some more discoveries.
I had the same thought about climbing over the cap. By the way, we had a game in Opportunity Division.
Yes we remember you, I believe we had our practice match together.