[dtengineering]

In '06 we could score from half court. In fact our autonomous mode was simply to have the driver line up the turret when they placed the robot, then spool up the motor (an FP, direct drive to a 6" wheel if I recall) and fire away.

We could have hit from further out, but the game had a built in speed-limit for the balls, so we were pretty much at maximum range.

Frequently, however, the balls would go in, but the massive backspin would actually toss them out of the aim high goal.

Backspin will be useful for stabilizing the flight of of the balls, but will also create lift, altering their trajectory and... in this game, unlike Aim High, will likely aid in scoring if you use it to bounce shots off the backboard.

My experience, however, after spending six weeks building a pan-tilt shooter that could (once you lined it up right) hit from anywhere was that in the time it took us to get our aim right, teams with far simpler shooters would drive in and hit ten shots from close range.

This year's target is smaller... there is nothing wrong with going for the slam dunk or lay-up approach... particularly if you have a hopper on the back of your robot that allows your "shoot from the other end of the court" colleagues to fire balls into your hopper (much larger than a goal) so you can finish the play.

Jason