The climber (winch) will be able to assert several hundred pounds of force, and achieve considerable speed. The mechanism itself will likely not be able to withstand the forces that it can expose itself to, especially if the climber is moving at a high rate of speed and hits a hard stop. Climber (winch) commands will need to use sensors to protect the mechanism from its own forces.
The climber will likely need limit switches to detect hard stops. However, this isn't sufficient, as the climber can't be allowed to reach a hard stop while moving quickly. An encoder (e.g. built into the Falcon motor) can be used to detect the climber speed and regulate it. There are many ways to approach this, and some thought will need to be given as to how to:
minimize climb time
minimize climber speed when approaching the retraction limit
limit the extension speed (especially important if the robot is hanging during extension)
avoid over-retraction or over-extension
It would also be beneficial (although not strictly necessary) to use the encoder to avoid the need for an extension limit switch, as that switch will be harder to position and wire.
The climber (winch) will be able to assert several hundred pounds of force, and achieve considerable speed. The mechanism itself will likely not be able to withstand the forces that it can expose itself to, especially if the climber is moving at a high rate of speed and hits a hard stop. Climber (winch) commands will need to use sensors to protect the mechanism from its own forces.
The climber will likely need limit switches to detect hard stops. However, this isn't sufficient, as the climber can't be allowed to reach a hard stop while moving quickly. An encoder (e.g. built into the Falcon motor) can be used to detect the climber speed and regulate it. There are many ways to approach this, and some thought will need to be given as to how to:
It would also be beneficial (although not strictly necessary) to use the encoder to avoid the need for an extension limit switch, as that switch will be harder to position and wire.
Related: #42