Team 540 Launch Teaser

[Rob2713g]

This is a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO7S92sMi_Y) of one of our first launches. The mechanism is currently running at only a third of its possible power and can reload in a couple of seconds. So far, it seems very safe and reliable. We are able to completely disengage the launcher without any parts moving outside of the covering.

[SSMike]

Looks great! That thing has a lot of power!
Although if you are thinking about hurdling, you may want to consider angling the "arm" or the "holder". Have you guys thought up any way to get the ball up on the launcher? Also what was that spark at the bottom of the screen? Will that be a safety issue?

Again Great Job!

[DarkFlame145]

VERY awesome, scary at the same time though. I really like it.

[Squirrel Lord]

That looks awesome!

in other news, did anyone else see sparks at the bottom of the launcher? Looked rather scary to me!:ahh:

[DarkFlame145]

I saw it the 2nd time i watched it.

[AdamHeard]

How does the ball get loaded on there? and why is it so dark?

[sporno]

hey guys im the sparks maker

we had it rigged up using metal cable and to fire the cocked mechanism we had to cut the cable so u sliced it off with my angle grinder

[Karthik1]

Did the launcher spark in the video?

[Rob2713g]

This was taken around 9PM so it was dark outside, and the video was taken based off of illumination from car headlights.
When we added "brightness" and contrast to the video (the ball was showing up badly), the sparks increased dramatically. In reality, it was a very small spark, which won't be there for the real robot. We have a new release mechanism that will be much more reliable.
The gripper and rest of the arm are not shown, just the launcher and test rig.

[computerboi1503]

Is that a spring-like mechanism? Or is that just strictly air? We've been toying with air, but still staying at a feed rate of the mandated 60 PSI. I'm confused?

[Rob2713g]

"Spring like" - that's pretty close, at least the same concept. We're not quite ready to reveal exactly how it works, but we will as the end of the season approaches.

[akash155]

that thing looks like it took alot of time to rig up...