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'''Grabbers''' are mechanical arms that move items from one block to the next: from a belt into a furnace, from a fabricator onto a belt, from a chest into a boiler. The fuel-driven '''Coal Grabber''' is available from the start; the electric grabbers come with research.

[[File:BlockFactory_Grabbers_and_Chests.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Grabbers moving items from belts into chests]]

== Overview ==
{| class="wikitable"
! !! Grabber !! Epoch !! Unlocked by !! Energy !! Swings/s !! Items per swing !! Reach !! Recipe
|-
| [[File:BlockFactory_Coal_Grabber.png|32px]] || '''Coal Grabber''' || 0 || Start || Fuel, 95 kW || 0.6 || 1 || 1 block || 1 Iron Gear + 1 Iron Plate
|-
| [[File:BlockFactory_Grabber_T1.png|32px]] || '''Grabber T1''' || 1 || Automation || Electric, 13.2 kW || 0.83 || 1 || 1 block || 1 Electronic Circuit + 1 Iron Gear + 1 Iron Plate
|-
| [[File:BlockFactory_Grabber_T2.png|32px]] || '''Grabber T2''' || 2 || Fast Grabber || Electric, 46 kW || 2.31 || 1 || 1 block || 1 Grabber T1 + 2 Electronic Circuit + 2 Iron Plate
|-
| [[File:BlockFactory_Long_Grabber.png|32px]] || '''Long Grabber''' || 2 || Fast Grabber || Electric, 20 kW || 1.2 || 1 || 2 blocks || 1 Grabber T1 + 1 Iron Gear + 1 Iron Plate
|-
| [[File:BlockFactory_Grabber_T3.png|32px]] || '''Grabber T3''' || 3 || Logistics 3 || Electric, 100 kW || 2.31 || up to 4 || 1 block || 1 Grabber T2 + 15 Iron Gear + 15 Electronic Circuit + 1 Advanced Circuit
|-
| [[File:BlockFactory_Grabber_T4.png|32px]] || '''Mass Grabber''' (T4) || 4 || Mass Grabber || Electric, 130 kW || 2.31 || up to 12 || 1 block || 1 Grabber T3 + 15 Iron Gear + 5 Processing Unit
|}
All grabbers are 1 × 1 and make no noise. A swing is one full cycle: grab, swing over, drop, swing back. Grabbers only use energy while the arm moves. A grabber that grabs several items at once (Grabber T3, Mass Grabber) only takes items of one kind, and only as many as the target will accept.

== Direction ==
A grabber picks up from the block '''behind''' it and drops into the block '''in front''' of it. Behind is the side away from you when you place it, so a grabber always moves items '''towards you'''. Place it while standing where the items should go.

The Long Grabber picks up two blocks behind and drops two blocks in front, over whatever stands in between.

A grabber can work with any block of a large building, not only its center.

== Fuel and power ==
The '''Coal Grabber''' burns fuel (see [[BlockFactory:Smelting|Smelting]] for fuel values). It feeds itself: when its fuel slot is empty, it takes a piece of fuel from the block behind it, even with no energy left, so a Coal Grabber at a coal belt starts on its own. If it runs out of energy mid-swing while carrying fuel, it burns what it carries. Press Use on a Coal Grabber to see its fuel slot and what the arm holds, or crouch and press Use with fuel in your hand to fill it.

The electric grabbers need power from a nearby power pole (see [[BlockFactory:Power|Power]]). When power runs short they slow down. A boiler fed by electric grabbers can therefore starve its own grid; feed boilers with a Coal Grabber instead.

With a [[BlockFactory:Signals and Programmable Interface|Programmable Interface]] you can switch grabbers on and off.

== What a grabber takes ==
{| class="wikitable"
! From !! It takes
|-
| Belt || items from either lane
|-
| Splitter || items waiting inside it
|-
| Furnace, drill, fabricator, SlaughterHouse and other machines || only finished products from the output
|-
| Chest, Animal Trap, Goblin Cart, Cargo Wagon || any item the target accepts
|-
| Another grabber, boiler, Coal Plant, locomotive || nothing
|}

A grabber only picks up what the target will accept. It never grabs an item it cannot drop, except at a belt, where it waits for a gap.

== What a grabber puts in ==
{| class="wikitable"
! Into !! Rule
|-
| Belt || one item at a time, onto the '''far lane''' (the lane away from the grabber), as soon as there is a gap
|-
| Splitter || into a free place inside; the Splitter passes it on like an item from a belt
|-
| Furnace, SlaughterHouse, refineries || ingredients up to twice the recipe amount; fuel up to 5 (only machines that burn fuel)
|-
| Fabricator || only ingredients of the chosen recipe, each up to twice the recipe amount
|-
| Wooden Drill, boiler, Coal Plant || only fuel, up to 5
|-
| Nuclear Reactor || only Uranium Fuel Cells, up to 5
|-
| Locomotive || only fuel, up to 10
|-
| Towers || matching ammunition, up to 20
|-
| Buildings with rune module slots || [[BlockFactory:Rune Modules|Rune Modules]] into free slots, one at a time
|-
| Portals, research centers, Outlander Test Site || what they currently need
|-
| Chest, Goblin Cart, Cargo Wagon || wherever it fits
|-
| Another grabber, Animal Trap || nothing
|}

The small limits keep items from piling up in one machine while the next one in line starves. The far-lane rule makes belt layouts predictable: a row of grabbers on one side of a belt fills one lane, a row on the other side fills the other.

== See also ==
* [[BlockFactory:Belts|Belts]]
* [[BlockFactory:Storage|Storage]]
* [[BlockFactory:Smelting|Smelting]]
* [[BlockFactory:Fabricators|Fabricators]]
* [[BlockFactory:Power|Power]]

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