we first had the idea because generic “claws” can do very well with stacks but their efficiency goes down after the stacks get knocked off…
so we decided to build a separate intake module specifically for drivers ad programming challenges
i made sure it was legal here: https://vexforum.com/t/answered-switching-intake-methods-between-matches-and-skills-challenges/18222/1
and the strategy had been successful ever since and i think we won some awards because of it
we decided to publish it because our “roller intake” (credits to 254A) can only score a max of 109 points (105 in competition) we decided to scrap the system for its parts (and we didn’t think we can beat team 1103’s 120 point skills ;))
it took around 5 mins to change out only removing TWO axles and a few spacer adjustments
the program code was changed with a jumper
As long as you have the chassis and control system, you could make the switches in just a few minutes… We’ll have to see what next year’s challenge brings, but I’d love to do the same thing, with even more components being switched out… Get the best of both worlds, challenges and competition…
But kudos to following through on your question! You are ahead of me… I just ask a lot of questions, and don’t get around to following up on them…
We did this in the New Zealand Upper North island regionals, it took us approximately 6 minutes to change intake for driver and programming skills - it is a very good tactic, unfortunately due to a lack of practice it did not pay off for us, i hope it does for you
We had a similar system a few competitions ago except ours used four standoffs to mount each manipulator to pieces of small c channel, so the swap process took under one minute.
Manipulator modularity is a very useful feature which is also sure to impress judges.
