We want to know for the turning point competition what kind of claw or grabbing device we should use, we have ruled out the original claw bot model, but what else is there to build?
-RoboCats
What have you thought of so far?
How long have you been competing?
We have thought like a 4 prong thing like in this video https://youtu.be/O_AUwAfnlZo
Passive claws seem like they could be pretty good, with a simple forklift design.
We are a little skeptical with this design though because it might move and wobble a lot. It also could slip and fall as well as be hard to get the cap on at all.
Ok,
The issue that I see with passive claws like that is during a faster game (which I anticipate is going to happen), you might drop the cap. However, that can easily be remedied with a passive active solution. Have you seen a bite claw? I have one that looks really similar to a dragons head. It works pretty well, but the type of rubber bands, number of rubber bands, and locations of the standoffs are definitely things you’d have to change/play with depending. You’re also going to have to experiment with different ways to actually “hold” the cap. I used standoffs at first (as you’ve seen in the videos), but have changed them to bent pieces of aluminum.
Just stick mesh around the end of the passive prongs and it’ll never slip out again.
until a passive with a little hook thing rips it right out of your prongs :).
True. But prongs are easier to make. Or you could use something like 3366 which can intake both balls and caps
1:17 opopop
Did your change (to aluminum) help make it more secure?
Because in the videos it looks very wobbly.
Yeah, I changed a few things, so now it hold the caps a bit tighter up/down, but by pulling down and back a little aluminum tab catches on the lip and the entire claw comes up and away effortlessly. There’s no more snagging on the cap during the release. The intake still has to be tuned a bit, but that’s where it’s at.
I was thinking you could make it even better by attaching that intake to the end of a lift so that you can score caps- plus you could even use the swing of the arm as a means to flip and rescore high caps. That and using a double catapult.
The pneumatic claw from the rolling robots also look pretty interesting.
Yeah, might not be good for v5 though with the motor limit.
Also do you think we should use the prongs or some channels?
Channels. We’ve found that the prongs often come loose which causes problems.
what if you passively linked it to a raising motion? So like normally my lift is on the ground and then something is depressed and the claw is open, but as soon as the cap is in, I lift the lift up by 1cm or 1/2" (whatever unit you use) and then the thing is un-depressed and it closes?
locktite red?
Thanks this information will be very helpful.