What iterations did you go through?
I’m afraid to count. In the 6 weeks of time we did a very detailed build resulting in a great shooter/robot.
What features did you tune in during the evolution of your design?
- Control loop for wheel speed shooting multiple balls
- proto different motors and gearing to test motor power
- ball path (How the ball is released to the wheel and how much distance the wheel is in contact with ball)
- release angle for fender and key shot
- wheel type (grip slip behavior of different materials vs wheel speed)
- ball compression
- camera targeting ( auto vs aimed, photo vs live feed)
Which system variables were most important to performance?
- Control loop for wheel speed
- Wheel contact area to impart the wheel rotational force to the ball
- Type of material the wheel was made from
- Ball release mechanism
- Aiming and release angle
What did you prototype? How detailed were your prototypes?
- CAD design ball path drawing
- 8020 mock up
- simple sheet metal proto
- Final shooter using lightweight tube glued and riveted together
- Used high speed camera and slow motion analysis
What did you start with? Why -- what inspired this baseline?
We started with a single axle shooter with hood and no turret
We looked at many shooters from previous games took the elements we thought we could expand on.
Take a media trip of our 2012 build. The photos and video show the progress and our build capabilities and how much fun we had.
971 2012 Build Season
Roy's 2012 Photos
Shooter Prototype Testing
Final Assembly and Testing
Practice at the Poof's Lab