Our team’s been revamping our robot since our last tournament, and we’ve decided to use a polycarbonate plate as a storage area, much like a lot of teams are doing. However, we’ve run into a slight problem.
If we place our plate above the ground, the sacks will get stuck under it and make intake very difficult. If we place it on the ground, the robot “skips” because the plate digs into the ground.
So we decided to ask the forums. How are you placing your polycarbonate plates? Any tips?
You will need to calibrate your polycarbonate’s height very carefully by choosing the right holes to mount it to and building a strong mount that will make sure your polycarbonate is very precise.
If you are using a flat polycarbonate intake, you should sand the surface to make it very smooth and let it slide along the ground with minimal friction.
This is good advice. Also, one problem we had was that our spatula was sagging in the middle. This shouldn’t cause too much of a problem, but if you still have the problem, making a good mount should help.