I recently came up with an idea and wanted to know if it was even possible.
i watched a video on YouTube the other day about an old robot reveal. In the video, he mentioned that he set his vex motor to lock (the shaft couldn’t rotate). This lead me to think that maybe such an idea could be incorporated in a lifter design. Let me explain further
If its possible to lock up a vex Motor. Does that mean it could be programmable to lock up when not being used?
For example, in a lifter system. Rather than using rubber bands to prevent the lifter from lowering. What if when you release the button that is responsible for turning on your lifter motor, it will automatically lock. Later, when pressed again, it will unlock.
Is such an idea even possible? Do vex motors even lock?
yes, that functionality is built into v5 motors, if you set the braketype to “hold” in the code, the motor will automatically try to hold its position when not being powered.
but this shouldn’t be a replacement for rubber bands, you should still use rubber bands to partially counter the weight of the lift.
Will the motor try to hold its position by mechanically locking the motor or using electrical current to hold it? If electrical current is used to lock up the motor on and off repeadtly (trying to hold its position), wont it overheat?
electrical current, the motor using a built-in pid function to do this.
if you’re making it hold against more force than you should be, yes. But it should have no problems holding a properly banded lift with an appropriate ratio.