Turret/Tower Height
 

Hey teams. just wondering where you find the sweet spot as far as the height of your shooter tower. First, Are you using a spinning turret or a tower with a spinning shooter?. How many degrees does it turn, if it does at all? Finally, how tall are you guys making your tower? I figure it doesnt need to be more than a foot of tower space, but then again maybe some people are storing balls in the tower. What do you guys think?

Re: Turret/Tower Height
 

Our shooter axel is 50 inches from the ground. Not sure if there is a sweet spot. We are tall so it's harder block our shots. Shooter has tiltbut no turret.

More details at 2012.discobots.org. Link to our daily log is at the bottom of the page.

Re: Turret/Tower Height
 

We put ours at 24" to make balancing and going over the barrier easier. If we go to the back of the key, we can't be blocked and we saw no reason to shoot from anywhere else.

Re: Turret/Tower Height
 

How do you figure?

Re: Turret/Tower Height
 

[quote=n1ckd2012;1115915]We are tall so it's harder block our shots.
QUOTE]

That's not neccesarily true. You could have a tower that's low to the ground and be right up against a taller robot, and all you have to do is just change the angle. The thing you need to take into consideration with the height of the tower is how that affects the center of gravity. You need to make sure its low enough for traversing the bump and/or bridge (if you're doing either). Low cg's will come in especially handy when trying to balance. I'd say a heigh of 30 or 40 is good. That's what we've got.

Re: Turret/Tower Height
 

The trajectory that we fire at ensures that the ball is above 60" by the time it hits the front of the key.

Front being defined as the part closest to the baskets.

Re: Turret/Tower Height
 

We'll do it one better: The ball is above 60" by the time it reaches the vertical projection of our bumper. If we're touching the key, no reasonable defense strategy is going to see an opposing robot "bump" us, so we *hope* that'll do.

Our shooter's top is around 50" as well.

Re: Turret/Tower Height
 

An opposing robot is allowed to be on your key (and block your shot, if your shooter is low). They receive a foul if they contact you while you're on the key.

I guess you could assume that no other robots will try to block you while you're on the key, but that may or may not be a valid assumption.

Re: Turret/Tower Height
 

In my opinion this is a pretty safe bet, they could just drive forward quickly and they'd get the foul. In fact, tempting opposing robots to sit in front of you in the key could be an even better scoring strategy than sinking baskets :yikes:.

Re: Turret/Tower Height
 

Hey teams. just wondering where you find the sweet spot as far as the height of your shooter tower. First, Are you using a spinning turret or a tower with a spinning shooter?we have a spinnining robot. How many degrees does it turn, if it does at all?it can turn 360 Finally, how tall are you guys making your tower?we will not have a "tower" I figure it doesnt need to be more than a foot of tower space, but then again maybe some people are storing balls in the tower. What do you guys think?i think your robot will fall over the first time you shoot a ball.

why are you so obsessed with spinning towers?

Re: Turret/Tower Height
 

We're avoiding a turret because we'd heard that during the 2006 competition, drivers would get confused by the driving chassis and turret turning independently (using tracking systems). It's also more complication that is not necessarily needed.

I think the main danger with towers is that they can whip around on the bridge, when crossing the barrier, or when your robot is hit by other robots (and can then break off without a significant amount of bracing). They also alter the center of gravity quite a lot. While you may not fall over when shooting, a robot with a tower possibly may when crossing over the barrier (especially when hit by another robot) or more likely, when crossing the bridge.

Our shooter is about 28-30in high right now. We've configured the shooter so that it can't be blocked by other robots. It is still vulnerable to being rammed.

We're aiming to be able to shoot from several places on the field.

Re: Turret/Tower Height
 

Our shooter is a one wheel design with the axle mounted at 36 inches high. We're using a small amount of vertical space plus the angled space from the front of the bot to the back (Where our shooter is located) to store the balls.

Re: Turret/Tower Height
 

Doesnt most teams have one student driving the robot and the other working the controls?

Re: Turret/Tower Height
 

FIRST Team 1296 is at 52" - also seems safe to me

Re: Turret/Tower Height
 

If they do try this, we can drive forward and bump them, under no penalty to us, and a three point penalty to them.