What will you use the Advanced Grabbing Unit (Claw/Clamp) for?

[SebLavK]

After seeing a few videos from the media group, I have no doubt that the Advanced Grabbing Unit, that claw/clamp that comes inside a 1.25m part, is by far the best feature of the new patch.

Sure, the 3.75m parts and engines, the bigger SRBs, improved conics and persistent maneuver nodes with orbit selection sound great. But they are merely the product of logical progression in the development of the game. Necessary parts being added and features being polished.

Now, I haven't mentioned the asteroids until now for a couple of reasons. Of course they are the main reason for the patch, and they seem to have been very well implemented so far. However, the way they work so far (remember, no n-body physics) require some workaround to be able to interact with them, besides crashing into them, that is, and hopefully future science parts to study them.

And the solution for that has been the Claw.

So the idea is to rendezvous a ship/probe with an asteroid and attach yourself to it with the claw. It allows some gimballing, so you can point your thrust across its CoM and not spin around like crazy. From then on, it's just a part of you ship, and you can alter it's collision course with Kerbin, put it in orbit and build a station on it, throw it into the sun, make it escape the system or fling it towards Bob.

But you can also grab any other thing with the claw, including kerbals! (

) So I guess the first thing that comes to mind is to use it in a rescue vessel, but I've thought of a couple of other things.

-A space tug, for easier orbit assembly (less docking logistics)

-Clean up duty (aka debris rescue)

-Stations with moving parts, or permanently gimballed engines. (Don't know what you would use the latter for, but it's a possibility)

-Some sort of launch clamp for use in other bodies

-Tow rovers and rover trains. Also, parking brake for steep hills, but I don't know if the clamp will attach to the ground.

-More stable skycrane landings

Some people have said that being able to grab anything will replace docking ports. I can't see how, docking ports are still very useful to keep your different modules positioned the way you designed them, and maybe in a future only docking ports will alow IVA crew transfers.

So what would you use the claw for?

To be honest, I have had my copy of KSP a bit neglected lately, but it's always very exciting to wonder about and imagine using the new additions to the game.

[MKI]

I agree, the claw is the best feature of the new patch beside the under the hood changes.

I want to learn more about the "gimbaling" of the claw more than anything. As it can open up ALOT of possibilities in the game. I don't exactly like how it isn't tweekable to start it open or closed though. I can see that as a pain in some cases. I do agree on how it can make docking ports obsolete in almost all cases. But I believe docking ports will be cheaper than the claw when part costs are added.

[Xaiier]

remember, no n-body physics

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

OT:

Probably for grabbing things, as well as using it's hinge function to allow for...hinges. Should be interesting to see if we can use them internally as hinge pieces on a ship without having to connect them.

[SebLavK]

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Meaning that they don't exert any gravity on other things, even the bigger ones, so you can't land or walk on them

[CalculusWarrior]

Meaning that they don't exert any gravity on other things, even the bigger ones, so you can't land or walk on them

That's not what n-body physics would enable. Even if the asteroids displayed gravity based on their masses, you would see absolutely no change.

To put this in perspective, think of Gilly. You know how weak the gravity is there? Well, Gilly is thousands of times bigger than even the largest asteroid you'll ever encounter.

Gravity is a really weak force, when you think about it.

[Thiel]

Meaning that they don't exert any gravity on other things, even the bigger ones, so you can't land or walk on them

You wouldn't be able to do that if they had gravity either.

[SebLavK]

That's not what n-body physics would enable. Even if the asteroids displayed gravity based on their masses, you would see absolutely no change.

In Scott's interview with the team, Felipe said that he decided to scale down the asteroids to playable levels. Even Gilly has a very high density to account for its gravity.

If the game had n-body physics (and I'm not going into the chaotic end it'd mean for the system), we could see big enough asteroids that could keep a well placed probe in position on its surface. Right now I think the biggest asteroid would be around 18m in diameter, but I stand uncorrected.

So in the end, you could send a mission to grab an asteroid and find an orange tank, it'd be same gameplay wise.

That was just an observation, I like the way they work right now

[Thiel]

One of the preview videos says they're up to 30m across.

[helaeon]

Claw won't replace docking ports if the mass of the claw is much higher. If the claw weighs 2T and you can have a set of SR docking ports for 1, use of any set of docking ports would be better.

Maybe, if you were really intent on having a lander be absolutely as light weight as possible and your transfer ship was powerful enough the extra mass didn't matter there, then yeah it might be cool to grab the lander rather than normally dock. Especially if the claw doesn't allow much wobble.

Yes IVA crew transfers would be another good reason to use docking ports rather than the claw.

[problemecium]

I was wondering why it was taking so long for anyone to make a reference to "The CLaaawww"! (ooooooOOOOOOOOOOOooooooh)

[andruszkow]

The clamp won't replace docking ports for me, mostly because piercing the hull of my ships and being able to transfer fuel this way, "undock" and having everything working perfectly afterwards is annoying my "realism-sensors" to the point of ridiculous.

A clamp on a rover for hauling baseparts around though, that's nice!

[merendel]

I was wondering why it was taking so long for anyone to make a reference to "The CLaaawww"! (ooooooOOOOOOOOOOOooooooh)

Seriously every variation from every pop culture referance has been done to death since the claw was first announced. Some of us just cant be bothered to flog that horse anymore

[CaptainKipard]

I'll use it for everything except fuel transfer; it's ridiculous...

[magnemoe]

Claw won't replace docking ports if the mass of the claw is much higher. If the claw weighs 2T and you can have a set of SR docking ports for 1, use of any set of docking ports would be better.

Maybe, if you were really intent on having a lander be absolutely as light weight as possible and your transfer ship was powerful enough the extra mass didn't matter there, then yeah it might be cool to grab the lander rather than normally dock. Especially if the claw doesn't allow much wobble.

Yes IVA crew transfers would be another good reason to use docking ports rather than the claw.

More important, docking ports always dock strait, if you dock an drive section of an interplanetary ship to an habitate and lander part its an good idea to get the parts connected straight.

Primary feature of Claw is that you can dock to any surface and don't have to dock accurate.

The lockable pivot is the second main feature, its also an feature we don't have in KAS, it would anyway be of limited use without stronger joints.

[Frank_G]

I'd like to built a VTOL with claw underneath for picking up ground base parts and ground vehicles, besides orbital cleaning and station service vehicles. And of course i will do things with and to asteroids. An orbital base mounted on an asteroid will be a cool project too.

[Dooz]

Hurray now i can dock things without such precision just ram a claw into any part and dock.

[Rickenbacker]

I don't think it'll replace docking ports. They're just much neater. But it will be cool to have the ability to pick things up, and of course I'll use it to anchor my next base to a rock in orbit, just because it looks cool! Dahud's stream had some interesting ideas about using landing gear to "rigidize" the connection to the rock too.

[CaptainKipard]

I wonder if we can have multiple claws for more stability.

[diomedea]

I wonder if we can have multiple claws for more stability.

Yes, we can.

[Whatshtisthis]

Catching other planes in mid-air, of course.

Who's up for some Plane-Wrestling?

[John Crichton]

Catching ice asteroids to mine water would be at the top of my list...mostly because it would complement the interstellar mod so nicely.

[Clockwork_werewolf]

Launching an SSTO plane with a few claw-rockets for debris removal. Wasn't really possile before if your debris didn't have a docking port. You could try and make a device with landing legs and stuff but it was always so hit and miss I never bothered. Very curious to find out the mass of "THE CLAWWW"

[Comrade Jenkens]

Debris removal is at the top of my priorities for it. I don't have much but there are some big fuel tanks floating rounds up there.

[Thomas988]

I'm going to use the grabbing unit to build bases. Not just to firmly attach modules to the surface, but to also refuel without having to dock. I'm so excited!

[CaptRobau]

Claw won't replace docking ports if the mass of the claw is much higher. If the claw weighs 2T and you can have a set of SR docking ports for 1, use of any set of docking ports would be better.

Maybe, if you were really intent on having a lander be absolutely as light weight as possible and your transfer ship was powerful enough the extra mass didn't matter there, then yeah it might be cool to grab the lander rather than normally dock. Especially if the claw doesn't allow much wobble.

Yes IVA crew transfers would be another good reason to use docking ports rather than the claw.

Also docking is not so hard that everyone, even the veterans will suddenly stop using it. Especially when you consider that with correct RCS placement and use of the Chase camera mode, docking is pretty doable.

Anyway, where I want to use the claw for is creating a space shanty town on an asteroid in Kerbin orbit. Just attach wildly different bits and bobs to the asteroid using claws. Make it look like some lawless mining town on an asteroid.

Also, a bonafide asteroid ship. Get a big engine attached to it, strut it with manually placed struts using KAS, fly it to Jool.