Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

I think that witht he right springs and system, that a launcher could easily get a ball over that hurdle. However, when that ball comes down, it's going to be really dangerous.

Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

We considered a pendulum-soccer-kick mechanism that was centered torwards the front of the bot. 25-lb. pendulum that was simply raised and dropped on a n-foot long arm with guide rails on the sides to keep it straight and a x-degree wedge on the end to pop it up like a golf club does. Low profile, easy to do while pushing the weight limits.

The team had doubts of long-term reliability & quality, so we went with a different design.

Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

all i can say....
its going to be A PAIN IN THE BUT
FOR THE FIELD SETING TEAM
:D

Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

The game animation explicitly stated that robots need to be able to survive being struck by falling trackballs. There's no way that the team that releases the ball will be disabled because their falling trackball damages another robot. Regardless, the ball release mechanism (launcher or otherwise) still must be deemed safe to be allowed in competition.

Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

I have a hard time believing a team can do all of these reliable and quickly;

secure the ball
safely store energy
launch the ball high/far enough

Actually, I think 71 might be up to the challenge....

Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

It's a great challenge, isn't it Adam?

Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

Is the ball any lighter if it is just dropped over the bar, as opposed to tossed over? Those that shoot the balls will not be shooting them miles into the air - it will take just about everything they can do to get the ball above the 6.5 foot height, let alone tossing them 10, 15, 20 ... feet into the air.

The dangerous part will be the mechanism that sends the ball upward. Make sure nothing but the ball is in the way when firing!

I suspect about 71 teams being able to shoot this ball is about right. (OK, OK, I knew what you meant. No need for everyone to explain Beatty to me.)

Huh? This will be one of the easiest games in memory to reset. You want scrambling around by resetters, try one of the VEX games.

Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

1351 will attempt to catapult using a stored energy device (not springs!)

It will be amazing to see all these balls flying through the air during matches!

Sam

Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

Team 16 is currently looking into some sort of catapult-ing. We know it can work. We just have to figure out how we'll make it work without somebody pulling strings. =D I'm not sure how far we're into it, though. They're at the cage, I'm at the computer.

Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

How do we measure energy....in ft-lbs, ft-lbs...

http://www.acme.com/jef/singing_scie...energy-160.mp3

Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

If a team can reliably launch a trackball, they will be an A list robot. Launching the trackball will save time, and will be safer for the robot (no chance of getting hung up on the overpass). It's something to consider as we move farther into the "Huh, we should probably figure out how we're gonna do this" stage of build season. (However, as this stage typically lasts until around February 20th, there's still plenty of thinking time left.) :rolleyes:

Also, has 217 considered naming their trackball scoring machine the Chicken Chucker? :D

Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

We have successfully launched it over the over pass i will put a video up soon of it!

And we were thinking of having are robot the "fluffy bunny" (monty python and the holy grail)

(killer bunny!)


Its pretty cool how it shoots it i will post a link in a bit for you guys to see it.
:D

Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

Remember, the ball will hit the ground at about the same speed as a ball that was simply dropped over the overpass. The real danger is what the robot can do to someones hand/arm if the catapult fires without a ball loaded.

Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

We ended up deciding to go with a catapult design. I was against it at first, but now I think it could work well. We did some testing and prototyping and it works very well. Hopefully we can pull it off =]. I may post a video sometime.

Re: Are any teams planning on shooting the ball?
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak2ZgBLHALo

Here is are launcher teaser!
Enjoy