Part I — VEX IQ Fundamentals · Chapter 6
Intakes
The only part of the robot that actually touches the game element.
Your intake is the only part of the robot that actually touches the game element. No drivetrain speed or scoring mechanism fixes a robot that can't pick things up.
Before You Choose
The book poses five checklist questions here before you sketch a mechanism. The list itself is a visual in the printed book and isn't in this draft yet.
Choosing Your Mechanism
Your checklist answers plug straight into this. Job first, mechanism second.
The Four Types
Compliant wheels and linear slides both cost you something, tuning simplicity in one case, build complexity in the other, for the range they buy you.
Your team's intake and claw side by side.
Before and after shots of the intake geometry.
Pivot claw with extended arm.
Prototype Fast
Solve sizing and placement problems with geometry and dimensions first. Add a new axis or switch mechanism type only when geometry can't fix it.
What's Next
Chapter 7 covers the other end of the cycle, getting the game element back off the robot and into the goal.
Try it yourself