Ah, that glorious engineering question- how do we get this thing in the air?
I understand the ball is 24 inches wide and ~2.5 lbs. If anyone has more detailed numbers or tolerances, please add them.
Pyrotechnics are right out. They would totally set fire to the fabric. I'm sure the first thoughts everyone has are catapult arms. I was thinking about this and one of my sketches caused another problem appear. If arms are used to launch the ball, their own unladen weight will slow down acceleration of the ball or require a huge force to move.
I'm thinking broadly now. What if you used some much smaller arm that hits the ball and the impulse sends it flying? What can we come up with here?
Other things worth consideration:
The springs offered as part of the voucher
http://info.vulcanspring.com/first-robotics-competition
They are constant force flat coil springs, not helical coil springs as you might picture.
How quickly will it be necessary to retract/ prime whatever launcher you have?