Robots on the elevation bar at the end of match

VEX V5 General Discussion
1

At the end of matches they use the game switch to stop the robots from moving that way they can score everything correctly. If we were say using a claw when the match ends the robot would begin to slide or even fall. So i am wondering how it stays up while there scoring the match at the end. Is it in the building or programming

2

One way you could keep your claw clamped to the elevation bar is with a pneumatic claw.

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3

It is in the building. Either you can use ratchet mechanisms, which will allow your claw mechanism to close but not open/lift but not fall, or you could activate your endgame mechanism with air cylinders, which don’t deactivate after the match ends.

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4

Okay we don’t have pneumatics right now but i could work on it. Any other ideas

5

You can also look into using some sort of over-center mechanism, which can be made self-locking (so no motor power is required to hold it.

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6

One I did a few years back, obviously for a different game so not directly applicable, but same idea.

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Okay i see how it works. Now that i think about it if i were to add rubberbands to to the claw that would force it to stay shut unless we tell it to open

8

I like the idea of over center but this year we aren’t allowed to touch the top of the pole this year

9

over center has nothing to do with attaching to top of bar, as long as the robot COG is above the mechanism holding it up, it should be ok.

Proof of concept, imagine that the robot rotates about the point where the masking tape is, if the COG is over the arm resting on it, should be fine. Note the POC does not have an active mechanism holding onto the vertical bar.

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10

Okay so just as long as the weight is balanced correctly on the arm it doesn’t matter where it grabs the pole

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11

You can touch the top of the pole this year you just can’t at the end of the match to get points from it. So theoretically you could use the top of the pole to help elevate your robot, and then use a separate mechanism to stay up, finally removing your lifter mech so you get the elevation points.

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12

Yup - Making use of the horizontal bar will be the easiest way to do a simple elevation.

You can skip to 0:32min to look at it.

But do explore other ideas if you are looking at elevating high.

13

Okay did not know you can touch it during the match. Though one of my ideas is to make almost a forklift but with a claw attached so that when it pulls it self up the bottom of the claw is the bottom of robot. Then i could just use rubberbands to make sure the claw will stay closed at the end

14

you would need some sort of lock to keep the robot up because when the game ends the motor can’t get current so they can’t keep you robot up.

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Yeah that would take some figuring out but it’s just an idea

16

while not being able to be in contact with the yellow cap when the game ends, there’s nothing currently saying you cannot use the top of the bar to climb and let go of it once you are elevated.

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I did a sort of clamp which mostly works, it does struggle when adding lots of weight though. Also you need to have a lot of clearance to get to the base of the pole.

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18

Can an intake help out with elevation after using a claw mechanism to lift your bot off the ground?

19

Are you asking if it’s legal? The game manual does not discuss any design strategy, or does it require or ban any particular mechanism (within common sense, of course).

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I’m not asking if it’s legal, I just want to see if it can help out in holding the bot up off the ground.