103's Offseason Project?
 

We were brainstorming the other day and came across a few ideas. We did some research to see if they were possible. After watching this documentary, we were inspired.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW-ljrm7a6g

This may or may not be our offseason project. Actually, it probably won't happen. But we can always have dreams! :D

Re: 103's Offseason Project?
 

Why not philly cheese steak? ;)

Re: 103's Offseason Project?
 

If we thought hot dogs would make a mess, I could not imagine what kind of a mess that would make!

Re: 103's Offseason Project?
 

Fake mountain dew can launcher? Hide inside of it a LED lightbulb.

Re: 103's Offseason Project?
 

That was also a topic of interest. It would be very tough for us to get approval from administration, but it would be very awesome.

Re: 103's Offseason Project?
 

Easy, tell your teacher/mentors that you want to make a T-shirt gun, but design it for hot dogs. Kip Kay has a great one, http://kipkay.com/videos/explosions-...hirt-launcher/

easy.

Re: 103's Offseason Project?
 

Anything that has the word gun or cannon will really be frowned upon. Our mentors have final say on everything.

Re: 103's Offseason Project?
 

Too bad, mounting a t-shirt *launcher on a robot could be a great off-season project.

Would the word launcher fly with your mentors?

Re: 103's Offseason Project?
 

Clever, but probably not. Were thinking of a way to present it to them that they might be ok with it. Also, if we were to make a hot dog launcher, we would make it work with t-shirts also. maybe have a setting switch or something like that.

Re: 103's Offseason Project?
 

Would they like the though of a T-shirt Delivery system?

Re: 103's Offseason Project?
 

Team 1671 has made several launchers that are still in use for football games and other sporting events. In the end it is really great for the kids to have the robot out for everyone and to highlight the program. We now have over 50 members and growing.

Re: 103's Offseason Project?
 

The thing is you do not have to convince me. I know how great these things are to excite and gain interest people about the program, let alone the learning experience for the kids creating this. Your preaching to the choir here.

I am talking about administration and team leadership approval. I will see what I can do, but I do not believe it will pass through. Any help would greatly appreciated (if you come up with a way to help). PM me if you have any comments or questions.

Re: 103's Offseason Project?
 

Team 422 built a "Reggie Cannon," named after an eccentric alum, who machined ridiculous traction wheels and did other crazy things.

The Reggie Cannon was used to launch balls at pictures of school faculty members as a fall fundraiser.

We were advised to never do that again...

Re: 103's Offseason Project?
 

This is exactly what I am trying to avoid. I want to make sure this project is well liked by everyone in our district as well as our community. Most of the students believe a t-shirt cannon would be a great way to do this while also bringing huge interest and recognition to our team, myself included. Is there any advice you can give to us to make it more possible to get administrative approval?

Re: 103's Offseason Project?
 

Give them a lot of notice. Tell them exactly what kind of launcher you are building, the distance you expect it to travel, various forces of impact. (Don't call it a gun or cannon. Those are scary words to use in a school building.)

Make sure you post a warning near it. I approach a mass of people as thinkers of the lowest common denominator (this is a life saving skill when you are operating anything around people, because there's always one guy...). If you are showing it in public, let everyone know what kind of power you're packing.

Lastly, don't let the people I described above operate it in closed confines near windows. That's what killed us.

I'm trying to revive the cannon idea by making a proposal to our AA MiLB affiliate in Richmond for use during breaks at games. They love crazy promotions! So, if we can build a high-pressure, drivable launcher for an education day, it would be awesome to get our name out there like that.