Thanks for the replies you two. So first Jamie, cheers for telling me about the reduced price on Gimson's website, that's actually pretty helpful! I had originally seen the spines as simply a way to hold bots when the lifter was raised, and to self right. Likewise, I saw the side teeth as a disposable way to beach spinning weapons, and that they would simply hold a wide bot in place diagonally. I've included a drawing of the general measurements of the bot below, with some key measurements. Upon looking at it again though, I can see your points. I definitely have to lengthen the spines out and up. They're made of 20mm HDPE in the drawing, so I'll see what that'll do to the weight and adjust accordingly.

Also, some math. The face is horizontal when the actuator has moved 37mm. The machine can in theory lift 21.8kg at the tip, so it's basically under it's max load if lifting a feather. Over-volting the Actuator gives me 7.5mm to lift, so that's a little over 5 seconds to just get the lifter horizontal. That ain't too impressive I'll admit. The 400kg LA on Gimson's website looks promising as well however, and I bet that with a little positioning, I could potentially get that time under 4 seconds with it. Still not too impressive, but a little better than before.

As for your post Theo, I first thought that if I make the machine clamp like that, then I won't be able to self right. You have gotten me thinking though: If I were to have 4 spines instead of 3, and secured the middle 2 to the base of the machine, cutting slits in the lifter face to let them pass through, then I would have a clamper bot with a very short time from surface to surface (face to tips of extended clamps would be a second or 2) that would keep an opponents wheels off the ground, as well as a lifter that could stretch far enough with the other 2 spines to self-right! I've got quite a few CAD alternate designs to work on...