Heather's ball handler
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06u-klIcPTU

team 842 has a robot, Heather, that has 4 sided kicker with mecanum wheels and a limited space for ball handler, this is the design we have come up with.
Andy Mark orbital drive with an FP motor with output rpm of 5000 and pulleyed to 1500rpm.With 1.25 pvc pipe covered in duct tape.

Re: Heather's ball handler
 

Nice, we at 3167 are doing almost the exact same thing but with a different tacky material (I'm not even sure what it is) and we are using a CIM motor.

Re: Heather's ball handler
 

I assume you're going to have one of these on all 4 sides. How are you going to avoid [inadvertently] POSSESSING more than one ball?

Re: Heather's ball handler
 

Can you elaborate a little bit more on this? Which side of the Duct Tape are you using?

Re: Heather's ball handler
 

3167 was going to have one on the front and back, but decided not to. I would assume that team 842 will approach their programmers and say, "Hey! We need you guys to make our grabbers controllable so we can turn them on and off."

Plus, since they have kickers on all 4 sides, they can easily kick one of the balls away before it is obvious that they are possessing the ball.

Re: Heather's ball handler
 

The duct tape is the "non-sticky" side. We will be able to control our grabbers to be on/off at the driver's station.

Re: Heather's ball handler
 

how well does the ball stick to the robot when making quick turns (donuts)?
I've seen many videos from numerous teams so far, but none that show it.
We've tried many different materials, speeds and roller locations relative to the ball to see what works best.
They stick very well going forwards and backwards, but...........

I wonder if teams that have a swerve/crab type system might be optimal as they can rotate/pivot themselves towards the goal prior to acquiring the ball for quick forward movement and a shot?

Re: Heather's ball handler
 

My team decided to not use a "roller" system, but rather a "wheel" system...with 2 wheels instead of rollers. It helps alot in the turns...but as a downside, is a bit harder to maneuver the ball into.

Our kicker is also quite narrow, so we need the ball to be in that exact place every time.

Re: Heather's ball handler
 

I bet one of the elite teams are looking at possessing a ball and rotating the robot instead of moving the ball relative to the ground for changing directions, other than forward and backward movements.

Re: Heather's ball handler
 

we will only be able to run one roller at a time and we will have ping pong ball with a bright light inside to indicate which roller we have on. If light is on at that side then roller on that side is on, at least thats the plan

Re: Heather's ball handler
 

we plan on doing doesie do around the ball if need be remember we have four sides with roller and kickers