Getting on stage is a critical component as the ranking point is crucial to placing high in events.  Thankfully our experience with elevators allowed us to review some of our best practices.  Our first design was a 3 stage elevator inspired by many designs in the 2023 season it was angled under our shooter allowing for very compact packaging.  This fit with our goal of modularity - we could easily remove the elevator without impacting our intake and shooting subsystems.

Initial tests showed a few issues with our design.  Our second set of hooks (carabiners) couldn't lock on to the chain because the angle of the chain when hanging was more pronounced than we expected.  The center of gravity was also not angling our robot as much as we required preventing us from being able to reach the trap which was a design requirement.

Our next version was actually simpler - climber hooks that had a spring to extend them and a winch system to pull them down.  Our first version worked very well.  Simply drilling holes and then mounting a second pair through the holes allowed us to find the perfect location for the notches.  The notches to latch on to the chain were inspired by a students work using cardboard to cut out a variety of styles.  Initially we were going to manufacture custom springs but in the goal of rapid prototyping we used surgical tubing.  This worked so well and allowed us to easily have extra material for repairs we stuck with it.

For our winch mechanism we decide that the canoe straps we used to secure our battery were ideal for this application.  Using our mill we created slots in the bottom axle to feed the material through and then sewed them together.  After multiple fails with thread breaking we tested putting a bolt and washer threw the material and it easily handled over 300 lbs of force so that worked to secure the straps.