Can the wood planks be picked up with suction

Question

Hi all

In the rules and a question here, it is mentioned that the wooden planks have no vinyl or texturing of any kind. With that in mind, I would like to ask if the wooden planks can be picked up with suction cups driven by vacuum pumps

Thanks in advance

GK

Comments

Not an official response:

Nothing forbids you to try

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For sure, but we don't know exactly how the wood surface there will be, and it would be a bummer if a robot with suction works great here but then cannot pick up the wood in the finals.

Answer 1

Hi,

In principle, using suction cups driven by vacuum pumps to pick up the wooden planks is allowed since there are no specific rules prohibiting this method. However, it’s important to keep in mind that the wooden planks used in the competition will have no vinyl or texturing as stated, which means they will likely have a smooth, untreated wood surface.

That said, the precise characteristics of the wood can still vary slightly from one meeting to another, depending on factors like humidity or small surface imperfections. These variations could affect the performance of your suction system. As others have mentioned, a suction-based mechanism might work well in your testing environment but could perform differently at the competition venue.

To be safe, you might want to design your robot to be adaptable, allowing it to handle small variations in surface texture or grip. This way, you can minimize the risk of your suction system failing under different conditions.

I hope this helps, and good luck with your robot!