Throw or Drop?
 

For this year's game, is your team more interested in a throwing mechanism or a dropping mechanism? In other words, do you plan to throw the ball into the hoop, or drop it and why?

I'm just wondering so I can see what other teams plan to do.

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

I see benefits in both, so our jury is still out on that one. Good luck :D

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

Well, since its illegal to get directly over the baskets, dropping will be hard.

I bet it could still be pulled off, though.

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

Dropping has the potential to be more accurate (less variables), but throwing reliably is WAY more versatile. If you can do it well and accurately, try for throwing.

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

Here's a little I've thought of (not at all exhaustive)
Dropping
Pros:
-Easier to implement for rookie teams
-Score three balls swiftly in a row
Cons:
-Can get pushed
-Can't drop into top row

Shooting
Pros:
-Score from far away
-Can score from "safe zone"
Cons:
-Shooting is less reliable
-Difficult for driver to aim (hard to get the right angle from far away)
-May have to realign for each ball

Note, that with a very strong programming team, the second (and possibly third) con of shooting could be avoidable.

I say, choose the tactic that best suits your team's abilities. If you are unsure about being able to shoot consistently, build a simple dropper, and prototype a shooter. If you finish a good shooter by the end, use that instead, but if you don't, you'll still be able to score.

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

Curious how one can drop the ball, considering the length of the fender and the 14" extension limit on appendages.

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

Get as close as possible and up a little higher so you can drop it in by rolling it off a ramp?

(yuck)

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

Seems highly difficult to pull off

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

It's impossible for the high goal, but perfectly implementable with the middle goals.

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

Well you are allowed to cross the plane with one appendage on the robot. You are allowed to cross 14" (inches) like you stated. And you can go a max of like 9 feet high if you were able to tilt whatever you were dropping the balls with, well at an angle and about 2 feet higher the velocity of the balls would take it the extra inches. You could even put a motor at the edge with a roller on each side to give it power at very close range.

Hope this helped. (My First Post)

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

84 inches is seven feet, not nine.

Also, Welcome to CD.

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

We're going with shooting, after all as long as you can get a fairly constant exit velocity for the ball, and you know how far from the hoop your robot is it's pretty simple physics to calculate the angle needed to get the ball in the hoop.

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

Just saying, trying to drop the balls onto the baskets also might hinder other bots trying to shoot or do the same thing. That would be a great limiting factor in scoring.

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

If we were in a vaccuum!

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

Good point, I forgot the baskets also protrude out so the three foot fender is a bit deceptive.

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

Since we're not, all it takes is a consistent shooting mechanism and a little time spent to solve the problem empirically. One physical example is worth a thousand models, so go build something and see what happens!

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

Our team has looked at both, and may end up with both. If the basket is 14 inches long then it ends up something like 3 -4 inches from the edge of the rim. I poured basketballs into a trash can from this distance with ease. We are trying to figure out a way to use a dumping basket as a hopper for a shooter so we can do both.

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

Just checked the math:
Not possible to dunk/drop balls into the hoops (Though you can get really close)

Barriers:
Fender: 38.75"

Now all the things to take out of that:
Hoop: Inside Diameter 18"
Backboard: 0.5"
Connection from hoop to backboard: 6" from inside of hoop to backboard
Total: 24.5" + some tiny distance for the diameter of the hoop ring (the metal itself not the gap in the middle)

38.75 - 24.5 = 14.25

You are allowed to extend out 14"

14.25" - 14" = 0.25"

So even under ideal circumstances your extention falls just short of the hoop. Dunking is physically impossible without tipping your robot somehow, or violating the rules.

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

can't you overcome a quarter inch with spin? what about the diameter of the ball?


anyways, my team is ging to try for a shooting mechanism, our ultimate goal being the ability to take half-court shots. we are still in the process of selecting the best way to do this though,...

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

i believe you also forgot the width of your bumpers between your frame and the fender. so we add another 3.25 inches or so...

0.25'' + 3.25'' = 3.5''

You might gain inspiration from 47's 2000 bot. It collects balls in a open ended box then lifted it up and spat it out

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

Well yes, but then you'd sorta be shooting it, not dropping/dunking it (unless we're talking about the 1 point basket. The two point baskets are both at 61", so there really wasn't a ton of vertical space to drop from anyway). Additionally, my calculations were incorrect (see next quoted post), and 3.5 inches is a bit harder to cover with spin alone (and at the point where it is covered you're not even close to dunking anymore).

Oops, you're right. Good call. Same conclusion regardless though.

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

Our team decided that we should go for shooting.

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

I think that any team that can quickly and efficiently score points will be very effective, and since time spent moving accross the field is time wasted, a shooting mechanism should be better.

plus, if one robot is REALLY good at shooting balls, the other two could just feed him the balls from the other side of the court

Re: Throw or Drop?
 

For the people who plan to drop the balls into the hoops..please keep in mind that there is a limit to how far something can extend from your robot. I believe that the limit is 14". Plus the fender is adding additional space away from the basket. With all that being said...my team (#1850) decided to throw the dropping idea out of the loop. I hope with the information that I just gave you is helpful. Good LucK!