One of my team members don’t want to do the intake where it’s hinged and it flips out the build range when the contest starts. He is suggesting that we put the intake inside of the drive train and and make it 18x18.
Which one should we do?
the flipout one is easier to get center tower descoring working and it leaves more room inside your bot. however the fixed design is simpler because you don’t need a deploy. if you care about actively descoring the center tower then choose the first, if you don’t then choose the latter.
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If you have room over the wheels do option one. Also it’s easier to tension since you don’t have to have it flip out and then tension it to go the other way.
Instead of looking at the big picture, talk to him about the fine details. By the way, you want to flip out because you can store more balls, while still getting good reach in the goals.
It’s easy to see this as flip outs vs stationary. Instead, think about a hinge you can make, this video by Kepler Electronics shows off some good hinges, but there are many more. If you can design yourself a solid hinge that incorporates well, you can easily plug in your intakes.
Option 2 is simpler but requires more planning, option 1 is slightly more difficult but is more effective.
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My team is using a lift. Although snailbot is more efficient, we thought the lift type would have less chance of failure.
Bc Covid, my team started a week ago but we’ve already started our flipout intake. It might not help that our motto is “Wing it til it works” but it looks pretty promising for its simple design.
I would like to make a point. While some designs do require flip outs, it is not impossible to go without them. My robot has a 5 segment long chassis and the intakes are mounted on a c channel built up on the front. My intakes are 2 segments long, and I have about an inch and a half of space before I even start to hit the size limit. Most compact and agile designs should not need deploying intakes. However, it is important to not simply bolt them onto the chassis. An intake should have a hinge that lets it morph a little to pull in a ball. We put ours on the rear driving axle for the intake, but one of my buddies put his on the front roller, while leaving the rear affixed. While deploying intakes can certainly be done well, you shouldn’t really need them if your drivetrain is compact.
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I suggest you do a design matrix, a lot of the variables in this design seem to depend on the individual team/bot
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flipout=bigger robot=more space for balls=good
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