We've been building a new indexer for the last few days, it started working today. Moving balls up with belts is working really well, though we'll need to make sure they always stay in contact with a wheel at the back and don't fall out on the sides. There's some neat videos of it on our social media. We've identified the broad volumes of our robot in CAD, and it seems like a high-bay roller isn't going to work for geometric reasons. The shaft would interfere with the shooter supports. The elevator vs. Richard debate is still open - a single stage elevator would be tall enough to maybe get in the way of the shooter even when lowered. We're testing roughly whether this is a concern - a bar directly in front of the shooter can be up to about 2.75 in above the wheel center, and we're still looking at minimum required separation from shooter to a bar above the highest part of the shooter. More details on exact shooter geometry will change this, and we can likely make some design adjustments to make sure the elevator isn't an issue. Richard meanwhile would require a rope guide to reduce risk of G18 violation when climbing (red card). Richard also has geometry issues - with the current cable chain, it'd be quite large and would probably need to at least partially be behind the indexer tower.
Drivetrain CAD is nearly done, we figured out bracketing on the rails today. We assembling the lower set today. No other detailed CAD is ready, though we're planning to get indexer done this weekend, and maybe shooter or intake dependent on people's time.
Over the past few days, we've been doing a lot of disassembly of old robot parts, so not a ton of progress on the 2020 bot this week.