A 9×5 compatibility grid: every bot in the fleet (Skimmer, Pelican, Spoonbill, Osprey, Kite, Owl, Heron, Falcon, Crane) scored against every manipulator (Tube A, Tube B, V5 claw, pneumatic pincer, flex-wheel pivot intake). Folds in lift-orientation behavior, motor/air budget after the lift's own draw, R24 piece budget after the bot's structure, and architectural fit. Used to decide which manipulator each bot should commit to and which alliances are mechanism-failure-robust.
| Bot / lift | Tube A (pin) |
Tube B (cup) |
V5 Claw (cup) |
Pneu. Pincer (cup) |
Flex-wheel pivot intake (cup & pin) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skimmer 2822A · 2-bar swing arm |
5 DEPLOYED pin's orientation insensitivity makes the swing-arm flip a non-issue |
1 INCOMPAT. swing-arm flip dumps cup mid-arc; cinch rim-grip unstable through orientation reversal |
2 POOR claw flips with the arm; cup drops at θ=180° unless a 5.5W wrist counter-rotates |
2 POOR same orientation problem as the claw |
1 ARCH-MISMATCH swing-arm rotation already does the orientation work; pivot at the manipulator duplicates that with no architectural gain |
| Pelican 2822C · four-bar lift |
3 VIABLE four-bar's orientation preservation is wasted on a pin; claw mount already there |
3 REBUILD-COST four-bar IS the right lift; but Pelican is actively building with claw — switch = late-season rework |
5 DEPLOYED combo-capable, orientation preserved, motor cost accepted |
4 SUBSTITUTE drop-in for claw to free a motor port if air budget allows |
2 REBUILD + WASTE four-bar preserves orientation natively without a pivot; rebuild manipulator + loses V5 claw simplicity for no scoring benefit |
| Spoonbill 2822D · four-bar + claw rotation |
2 ROTATION-WASTE claw-rotation gearbox is the architectural point; Tube A discards the active wrist entirely |
2 REBUILD + WASTE same rebuild-cost as Pelican; cinch rim-grip doesn't benefit from the rotation gearbox |
5 DEPLOYED + UNIQUE V5 claw + 5.5W rotation gearbox = fleet's only orientation-active end-effector (pin-flip, cup-invert, combo-order) |
3 SUBSTITUTE drop-in for claw to free claw motor; loses variable-force grip used during orientation work |
3 PARALLEL Owl is exactly this swap — orientation control via pneumatic pivot instead of 5.5W claw-rotation gearbox; equally valid, different mechanical implementation |
| Osprey 2822E · chain bar |
4 SECONDARY chain bar handles tube cleanly; pincer is the deployed primary, tube is the documented alt |
4 UPGRADE chain bar preserves orientation; Tube B + chain bar is a near-Heron pairing |
4 ALTERNATIVE swap pincer for claw if air budget tightens; loses pneumatic-advantage story |
5 DEPLOYED pincer + chain bar is the V1.5 chain-bar variant's committed config |
3 RETROFIT chain bar preserves orientation; existing pneumatic plumbing absorbs the new cylinder cheaply; loses committed-cycle simplicity |
| Kite 2822F · four-bar + shared-shaft |
3 REBUILD-COST four-bar is the right lift but Kite is actively building with V5 claw — switching to tube = late-season rework, same calculus as Pelican |
3 REBUILD-COST same rebuild-cost story; Tube B's cinch grip doesn't gain over Kite's V5 claw simplicity |
5 DEPLOYED V1.0 baseline manipulator; the shared-shaft architecture lives at the lift, not the claw — manipulator choice is independent of the power-transmission innovation |
4 SUBSTITUTE drop-in for claw to free the claw motor port; adds pneumatic plumbing Kite doesn't currently have; uses Kite's 16.5W headroom on plumbing instead of a future motor |
2 REBUILD + WASTE rebuild manipulator + add pneumatic plumbing for no shared-shaft synergy; the shared-shaft narrative doesn't depend on what's at the arm tip |
| Owl 2822O · four-bar (Spoonbill chassis) + pneumatic pivot |
2 PIVOT-WASTE pneumatic-pivot manipulator is the architectural point; Tube A on a non-pivoting mount discards the pivot mechanism entirely (analogous to Spoonbill's ROTATION-WASTE) |
2 REBUILD + WASTE rebuild cost + pivot mechanism is wasted; Owl committed to an active rolling intake, not a passive cinch grip |
3 SUBSTITUTE essentially reverts Owl to Spoonbill (V5 claw on the same chassis); loses dual-source pickup and active intake; viable downgrade if pneumatic pivot proves unreliable |
3 SUBSTITUTE uses Owl's existing pneumatic infrastructure; loses the active rolling intake; binary jaw grip replaces compression-grip dynamics |
5 DEPLOYED + UNIQUE active 4-flex-wheel pivot intake; horizontal for field, vertical for loader; pneumatic mode switch — the fleet's only mode-switching manipulator |
| Heron stacked reach (4-bar + chain-bar EE) |
3 OVERKILL stacked reach is wasted capacity on a pin specialist |
5 PRIMARY (theory) stacked reach + cinch-grip cup tube = highest-reach combo-capable pairing in the fleet |
4 FALLBACK stacked reach + claw works; loses the polycarb-cinch advantage Tube B brings |
4 FALLBACK stacked reach + pincer; trades motor for air vs. claw variant |
2 OVERCOMPLICATED stacked reach is already 2 lifts; adding a manipulator pivot is a 3rd DOF that costs build complexity without proportional reach gain |
| Falcon 4-DOF arm |
2 ARM-WASTE arm's orientation control is wasted on a pin (pin held loosely, orientation irrelevant) |
4 VIABLE Tube B at the wrist; arm DOF orients cup mouth-up regardless of approach angle |
5 CANONICAL 4-DOF arm + claw is the textbook super-clawbot config |
4 STRONG pincer at the wrist; same architecture, pneumatic substitution |
1 REDUNDANT 4-DOF arm already orients the end-effector at any angle; a separate manipulator pivot duplicates capability the arm provides natively |
| Crane six-bar vertical lift |
2 LIFT-MISMATCH vertical reach mismatches pin pickup, which happens at low loader height |
4 SPECIALIST vertical lift + Tube B for high-goal cup placement; single-motor lift leaves room for cinch |
5 MOTOR-RICH Crane's motor headroom (single-motor lift) absorbs claw cost cheapest in the fleet |
4 VIABLE pincer fits but doesn't capitalize on Crane's motor headroom (pincer is motor-free anyway) |
3 RETROFIT six-bar preserves orientation cleanly; absorbs the pivot mechanism; gives Crane dual-mode pickup it currently lacks |
Each row is one bot's slate. The cell with the highest score is the recommended primary; cells at 4 are credible alternates. Two patterns to watch for:
| Bot | Recommendation | If primary fails / role shifts |
|---|---|---|
| Skimmer | Tube A (committed). Pin specialist; lock the build. | No cup option viable on this architecture. Role doesn't shift. |
| Pelican | V5 claw (deployed). Stay the course. | Swap to pincer if a motor port is needed for an autonomous mechanism (e.g., a sensor-driven align). |
| Spoonbill | V5 claw + 5.5W rotation gearbox (deployed). The fleet's only active-wrist bot — preserve the orientation-flip capability. | Pincer drops the claw motor at the cost of variable-force grip; only swap if the active wrist proves unreliable in bench tests. |
| Osprey | Pneumatic pincer (deployed). Highest-upside upgrade path: Tube B if the team has polycarb fab cycles to spare. | Tube A is the documented secondary for pin-only match strategies. |
| Kite | V5 claw (deployed). V1.0 baseline manipulator; the architectural divergence is at the lift transmission, not the manipulator. | Pneumatic pincer if motor port becomes the binding constraint — Kite's 16.5W headroom absorbs the new pneumatic plumbing cleanly. |
| Owl | Flex-wheel pivot intake (deployed). The architectural commitment; dual-source pickup (loader + field) from a single mechanism via pneumatic mode switch. | V5 claw (reverts to Spoonbill) if the pivot mechanism proves unreliable; pneumatic pincer if active rolling intake stalls but the existing pneumatic infrastructure should be preserved. |
| Heron | Tube B (theoretical ceiling pairing). Highest-reach combo-capable bot in the fleet. | V5 claw is the lowest-risk fallback if Tube B fabrication doesn't converge in time. |
| Falcon | V5 claw (canonical for 4-DOF arm). | Pincer if motor port becomes the binding constraint; Tube B if a cup specialist role is needed. |
| Crane | V5 claw (plays to motor headroom). | Tube B if vertical-reach cup specialist is the alliance role; pincer doesn't gain Crane much over claw. |
The recommendation is the "should" answer; the "is" answer per bot is currently:
| Bot | Manipulator status | Lock-in point |
|---|---|---|
| Skimmer | Tube A in fabrication queue per the R24 audit. Path A roller separately documented. | Already past architectural decision; bench tests in progress. |
| Pelican | V5 claw mounted; four-bar lift in active build per Pelican page. | Already past architectural decision; tuning the claw close angle and lift PID. |
| Spoonbill | V5 claw + claw-rotation gearbox in active build per Spoonbill page. Dual-flex-wheel toggle in build queue. | Already past architectural decision; building the rotation gearbox and toggle. |
| Osprey | Pneumatic pincer planned; chain bar architecture committed. Tube A listed as secondary. | End-effector commitment pending alliance role decision. |
| Kite | V5 claw on four-bar lift; shared 2×11W output shaft drives both arm (5:1 torque) and toggle (1:2.67 speed) per Kite page. | Past architectural decision; bench-testing shared-shaft decoupling strategy (one-way clutch direction). |
| Owl | 4-flex-wheel pivot intake on pneumatic mode-switch; Spoonbill-derived chassis (four-bar + center tower + dual rear toggle) per Owl page. | Past architectural decision; bench-testing flex-wheel durometer for cup-vs-pin grip and pivot geometry for the 90° mode switch. |
| Heron | Concept stage. Manipulator unspecified in Heron page (swappable claw / pincer / tube). | Architectural decision still open; this matrix should drive it. |
| Falcon | Concept stage. Manipulator unspecified (swappable). | Architectural decision still open. |
| Crane | Concept stage. Vertical lift only; manipulator unspecified. | Architectural decision still open. |
| Commitment | Adds to the team's build queue | Adds to R24 piece budget |
|---|---|---|
| Skimmer + Tube A | Already queued. | 1 piece (tube) + 2 pieces (clamshell funnel, if used) = up to 3 pieces. |
| Pelican + V5 claw | Already queued. | 0 pieces (commercial). |
| Spoonbill + V5 claw (rotating) | Already queued. Adds: claw-rotation gearbox build (5.5W gear train). | 0 pieces (commercial claw + metal gearbox). |
| Osprey + pincer | Already queued. | 0 pieces (commercial). |
| Kite + V5 claw | Already queued. Adds: shared-shaft sprocket train + decoupling clutch (one-way bearing or sprag) on either arm or toggle output. | 0 pieces (commercial claw). |
| Owl + flex-wheel pivot | New: 4-flex-wheel intake body fab (2 arms, 4 wheel mounts), 1 pneumatic cylinder + plumbing for the pivot, lever-arm mount, single chain to drive all 4 wheels. | 0–2 pieces (any polycarb back-stop or mount plates; arms can be metal). |
| Heron + Tube B | New: clamshell fab session (2 heat-form sessions + seam alignment), 3D print prototype iteration. | 2 pieces (clamshell halves) + optional 2 (funnel) = up to 4 pieces. |
| Falcon + V5 claw | End-effector mount on the arm wrist; arm-tip motor budget allocation. | 0 pieces. |
| Crane + V5 claw | End-effector mount on the parallelogram platform. | 0 pieces. |
Fleet total R24 piece commitment (worst case, all funnels): 3 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 2 + 4 + 0 + 0 = 9 polycarb pieces across all nine bots. Each bot's individual 12-piece budget is comfortably under. The fleet-wide commitment remains heavily concentrated on Skimmer and Heron, the two polycarb-fabrication bots; Owl adds at most 2 pieces for optional back-stop or mount plates.
The dominant fleet pattern is combo-capable + orientation-preserving lift. The seven bots that meet both criteria (Pelican, Spoonbill, Osprey, Kite, Owl, Heron, Crane — plus Falcon if you count arm-driven orientation control) are the bots that can score the highest-value play in Override — the pin-in-cup combo as a single cycle (SC3). Skimmer, the only swing-arm bot in the fleet, scores well in isolation as a pin specialist but is structurally locked out of the combo play.
This isn't an accident of the fleet's design; it reflects Override's scoring rules. SC3 rewards nested pins inside cups, which means a bot that can transport a pin-in-cup combo without dropping the pin scores 2 things at once. Two single-element bots cycle twice for the same points; a combo bot cycles once. Cycle math favors combo, so the fleet's mechanism choices have converged on it.
| Tier | Bot | What it gets you |
|---|---|---|
| Deployed meta | Pelican (four-bar + V5 claw) Spoonbill (four-bar + rotating V5 claw) Kite (four-bar + V5 claw + shared shaft) Owl (four-bar + pneumatic-pivot flex-wheel intake) |
The fleet's mature combo-capable V1.0 builds. Pelican is the standard combo bot — orientation preserved natively, commercial claw drops in. Spoonbill adds a 5.5W claw-rotation gearbox for the fleet's only active-wrist capability (pin-flip on hex faces, cup-invert, deliberate pin-on-cup combo ordering during transit). Kite adds shared-shaft power transmission for 16.5W of wattage headroom — the fleet's most motor-budget-flexible build. Owl adds a pneumatic-pivot active intake for native dual-source pickup (loader + field) without chassis reorientation. Four different ways the V1.0 architecture can be specialized; together they cover the most variations on combo-capable scoring in the fleet. Win the "what we can field this month" question. |
| Theoretical ceiling | Heron (stacked reach + Tube B) | Cinch-grip security beats friction grip; stacked reach beats single lift on goal access. Two-piece clamshell fabrication is the risk. Wins the "if everything builds clean" question. |
| Strong alternates | Osprey (chain bar + pincer) Crane (six-bar + claw) Falcon (4-DOF arm + claw) |
Each is combo-capable with a different trade: Osprey trades motor for air, Crane plays motor headroom into reach, Falcon plays arm DOF into alignment flexibility. Pick by the alliance's missing piece. |
| Specialist | Skimmer (swing arm + Tube A) | Pin-only by architecture. Strongest as the fast partner to a combo bot — Skimmer feeds pins, combo bot stacks them. Solo meta is weak; alliance partner meta is strong. |
A two-bot alliance is the basic unit of competition. The matrix reads cleanly into pairings:
| Pairing | Quality | Strengths / risks |
|---|---|---|
| Pelican + Heron | BEST | Deployed meta + theoretical ceiling, different lift architectures. Pelican covers the floor; Heron covers the ceiling. Risk: contingent on Heron's Tube B build coming together — if Heron stays a concept, this pairing becomes Pelican + nothing. |
| Pelican + Spoonbill | BEST DEPLOYED | Two deployed combo bots, complementary end-effector roles. Pelican handles standard combos at speed; Spoonbill's active wrist handles edge cases (flipped pins, inverted cups, deliberate pin-on-cup ordering). Highest ceiling among currently buildable pairings. Risk: shared four-bar architecture means lift-PID or claw-motor-heat failures affect both bots in parallel. |
| Pelican + Osprey | ROBUST | Two deployed combo bots, different mechanisms and different lifts. Robust to one mechanism failing — if claw breaks, pincer keeps scoring; if air system fails, claw keeps scoring. Lower ceiling than Pelican + Spoonbill but higher failure tolerance. |
| Spoonbill + Skimmer | SPECIALIST PAIR | Skimmer feeds pins fast; Spoonbill stacks them with deliberate orientation control. Spoonbill's pin-flip capability lets it recover from imperfect handoffs that would defeat a non-rotating claw bot. Risk: same coordination demands as Pelican + Skimmer. |
| Pelican + Skimmer | SPECIALIST PAIR | Skimmer as pin feeder, Pelican as combo bot. Works when match strategy is "load pins fast, combo them with cups Pelican brings." Risk: requires tight driver coordination — one bot's pin queue depends on the other bot's cup acquisition. |
| Heron + Osprey | UPSIDE PAIR | Both combo-capable, both with polycarb-tube-friendly lifts. If both build Tube B variants, the alliance has two cinch-grip-secure cup handlers. Risk: same fabrication-convergence risk as Pelican + Heron, doubled. |
| Pelican + Kite | ROBUST DEPLOYED | Two deployed V1.0 four-bar + V5 claw builds, identical lift architecture. Pelican is the reference combo bot; Kite adds 16.5W wattage headroom via shared-shaft transmission, which the alliance can use for autonomous-period mechanisms or aux scoring. Risk: identical lift architecture means correlated failure modes — a lift-PID issue or claw-motor thermal-trip in one mechanism is likely to affect the other in parallel. |
| Spoonbill + Owl | ORIENTATION CEILING | Two deployed orientation-flexible bots, different orientation mechanisms. Spoonbill rotates the element after grip via the 5.5W claw-rotation gearbox; Owl reorients the manipulator before grip via the pneumatic pivot. Together this pairing covers orientation problems no other pairing solves (pin-flips on hex faces, cup-inversion, deliberate combo-ordering during transit, dual-source pickup mode switch). Risk: both teams running novel mechanisms means correlated bench-test learning curves through Phase A. |
| Owl + Skimmer | SPECIALIST PAIR | Skimmer feeds pins fast from the floor; Owl combos cups + pins with dual-source pickup mode. Owl’s vertical-mode lets it offload loader trips while Skimmer cycles floor pins continuously. Lower coordination burden than Spoonbill + Skimmer or Pelican + Skimmer because Owl’s pneumatic mode switch means Owl can pick up wherever the pin or cup ends up, rather than depending on Skimmer’s exact handoff cadence. Risk: Owl’s pneumatic-pivot reliability is unproven; if the pivot stalls, Owl reverts to a single-orientation manipulator and the pairing degrades. |
| Kite + Owl | INNOVATION PAIR | Two deployed “clever architecture” builds from the same V1.0 baseline, different innovations. Kite consolidates power across mechanisms (shared shaft drives arm and toggle at different sprocket ratios); Owl consolidates intake modes across pickup sources (one manipulator pivots between horizontal and vertical orientations). Architecturally diverse despite shared chassis lineage. Risk: both teams are running unconventional mechanisms in Phase A — doubled bench-testing risk, but also doubled engineering-notebook differentiation for the judging room. |
| Falcon + any | FLEXIBLE | 4-DOF arm lets Falcon adapt to whatever the partner can't cover. Best pairing depends on partner: Falcon + Skimmer makes Falcon the combo bot; Falcon + Pelican makes Falcon the flexible secondary. Risk: arm DOF is build-complex and unproven. |
| Skimmer + Skimmer | WEAK | Two specialists, no combo capability. Match strategy is pin-only, which gives up the combo scoring bonus. Avoid this pairing unless the opposing alliance is also pin-only. |
fleet-page-hero-snippets.html but isn't in this matrix yet. Add once the architecture decisions firm up — expected to score similarly to Crane (vertical-lift cup specialist), with the difference being DR4B's compact footprint.