Information on Climber Mechanisms
Written by Rishathvik Ramoshan
Throughout the many seasons of FRC, climbing has been a common challenge which teams attempt to face. As a rookie team ourselves, we found this task to be particularly difficult, so we have compiled a list (including additional resources) for other teams who may need help with designing a climber.
Telescoping Arm (with Winch)
About
The telescoping arm (with winch) extends extrusions linearly to gain height and is pulled upwards by springs.
Here is a demo of our team’s prototype of the mechanism:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10ivGILZR3So94gKmDJ8w3JYOzqM6B55y/view?usp=sharing
Construction
Review
Our team ultimately decided to utilize this mechanism due to its simplicity, space efficiency, and reliability. It was fairly straight-forward to prototype and highly practical in the robot game.
Scissor Lift
About
The scissor lift creates linear motion by “unfolding” crossed members.
Watch a demo here: https://youtu.be/i1RV9tVtnqw?t=113
Construction
Documentation and Parts List: https://devinwillis.com/2020/08/16/scissor-lift-design/
Review
Overall, our team found that the cons of a scissor lift mechanism typically outweigh its pros, especially for rookie teams with limited build capacity. Scissor lifts, while having the advantage of folding completely flat and looking cool, are quite heavy and resource-intensive to produce.
As a result, our team decided to avoid this design.
Further reading: https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/pros-and-cons-of-a-scissor-lift-climber/371049/36