Updating the 6-bar System
Today we worked on updating the arm of our robot and 6-bar system. We realized that it would be difficult for the scoop to turn if it wasn't placed at the top of the front bar (diagram below). We were not able to place it at the top because it needed to begin the match touching the ground. However, we came up with a solution: we thought that it might work to use the 'vertical treadmill" technique to raise the bar to the top so that it is able to dump the stars into the other teams' zone. We then thought, to make it easier, we would try to shorten the front bar so that the "vertical treadmill" doesn't have to raise the scoop as far. Then we came across an issue. The arms couldn't raise high enough to dump the stars unless the front bar (#1 on the diagram) and top half of the middle bar (#3 on the diagram) are even. So to solve this problem we shortened the middle bar so that it isn't in equal sections (top and bottom). The upper section will match the shorter length of the top bar and the bottom section will match the length of the 4th bar that mounts the arm to the base. To sum it all up, we are going to shorten the front bar and middle bar and add a "vertical treadmill" to the front bar to raise the scoop for the dump.