FTC Team in Need of Some Engineering Advice (types of lifts)

[gp426]

Hello all,

I am on my schools FTC team. This is the group's second year, and my last (I'm graduating this year). For this year's competition, we have to be able to lift a claw mechanism about 3 feet to place a ring on a piece of piping. My group tossed around different ideas for lifts, and we ended up settling on trying a scissor lift. However, over time I have become less confident in it than I originally was. Tonight I saw another group's pictures and saw that they had I think what's called a vertical lift (see link). I really like the compact efficient design that they implemented. We considered this idea but couldn't find a way to do it using FTC approved parts. We only have one sponsor, and he is a computer science major, so he doesn't have much experience with the engineering and mechanics aspects of the competition. That being said, we need some help with the engineering side of it. I would appreciate any tips or information on these types of lifts, ideally with FTC approved parts, but anything that deals with the concepts and types of these lifts would help a lot. 

Thanks in advance!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=492348784145923&set=a.492348137479321.93357.193642880683183&type=3&theater

[gp426]

Just clarifying, in the picture, it's team 5037's design that I was examining.