2026 FRC Flip Climb
I fully owned a flip-climb endgame mechanism for the 2026 FRC game that transmits over 400 Nm of torque to flip and hold a 115+ lb robot. Using an extendable boom, we grabbed the Tower at the L1 bar, then used two Kraken X60s reduced to 283.5:1 to flip the robot over the L3 bar.
Development
Building the flip-climb was an incredible journey that a writeup can't do justice. Thank you to my teammates who helped bring it across the finish line and to the team for making such a project possible. The tldr summary: the build started as a live axle approach that transmitted torque through two concentric steel pipes and high-torque split-taper bushing bore sprockets. After many split bushings and yielded pipes, we pivoted to a dead-axle approach in the last week before competition, bringing a prototype to fruition in a one week blitz that involved crazy machining and ridiculous tests. While we didn't use it at comp, the build was nevertheless a highlight of my robotics career and I am grateful for the opportunity to do it.
Gallery
