Our team has decided to do an intake that folds out to mass pickup stars. Any ideas on how to do that?
You should use the search function on the forums and take a look at the 8059D and 333X reveal threads, that might provide some inspiration. There’s a nice GIF from the 8059D thread that shows off their flip-out forklift really well:
https://vexforum.com/index.php/attachment/577b663adee36_gifboom.gif
Look at pretty much everyone’s reveal video. You can find these on YouTube or here on the forums. I will bet money that 98% are using some form of the flip-down intake. Orrrrrrrrr…, you could just plop a motor two on if you are lazy. As for my ideas…, I would try the VEX hinge (Because obvious) and a way to lock it to start and then use some complex method worthy of a design award. I think that it was @Infinity Minus 1 who, on a past thread like this, linked a video he made about a flip-down intake with a lock using some standoffs. IF you could find it (Here or on that place called YouTube), you could try it. Just try to make it effective and make it be able to help with scoring (cough cough…passive wrist…cough cough).
What one of our teams is using is a rubber band that falls off (on one end, the other is still legally attached. 
) and allows their scoop to unfold. So the rubber band is holding the scooping mechanism up, but the rubber band comes off when their lift goes up.
I believe that 8059D, when I asked them and meng, said that they are also using rubber bands to hold their arm and intake up.
It’s certainly not the most elegant thing in the world, but in Skyrise my teammate did the same sort of thing by using a lift to break a rubber band.
Elegant? No. Better than using a motor? Definitely.
I believe that 8059D, when I asked them and meng, said that they are also using rubber bands to hold their arm and intake up.
I think 8059 has mentioned it somewhere that the 8059D used a rubber band to hold it in place.
But do take note that it is not the most elegant or the best way to do it (and always remember - it was for SingVex, which has a really short runway).
There are many other robots in 8059 that fold up their intake as well. And no… they didnt use rubber band. In fact, they just played around with the CG of the intake - when it is folded up, it is tilted inward and the weight of the CG will naturally caused it to closed up. But when the arm is lifted up, the intake will just swing open and then the locking mechanism will just keep it in place.