Pneumatics

Real practice every IQ season, pneumatics show up in claws, PTOs, arm-move or quick-latch mechanisms, and expansion outside the starting size box. Not a maybe, part of how we build.

Pneumatics are a two-position tool, not a lift. A cylinder is either fully extended or fully retracted, no holding halfway. If a mechanism needs multiple stopping points, use a motor instead.

Speed is the entire pitch, and it's why claws run on air. A cylinder fires faster than any motor-driven mechanism can move. A pneumatic claw closes fast enough to grab a game element before it's knocked away, a motor-driven claw is too slow for that same window.

Expansion mechanisms use pneumatics to beat the starting size box. Robots start a match inside a fixed size limit, then can expand once the match begins. A pneumatic cylinder firing outward is the fastest way to expand, instant reach instead of a slow motor-driven unfold.

PTOs and pneumatics combine, air engages the switch instead of a motor. A pneumatic cylinder can throw a PTO's gear engagement in a fraction of a second, freeing a motor to do something else instead of holding a shifting mechanism in place.

One solenoid runs one cylinder, same rule as the V5 kit. Each solenoid controls one cylinder's extend and retract. Claws, expansion, and a pneumatic PTO shift are three separate jobs, that's three solenoids if you want all three firing independently.