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Re: Vacuum Pickup
In 2010 we also used a vacuum to hold the soccer ball. It had an excellent grip on the soccer ball (combination of suction force, area applied on ball, and "mechanical advantage" of how wide your grip on the ball is).
We used a two-stage system to pull a stronger vacuum, both stages were identical, using an impeller and impeller housing from a hand-held mini-vac with the stock motor replaced by a Fisher Price. That year we used a large, soft toilet plunger as the suction cup... I'd recommend something comparable in size to the bucket used in this video though.
Some design recommendations:
- Make sure your method of getting the cup to the ball is effective... even if the vacuum works perfectly, it will help you little if your drivers are always fumbling to acquire the ball. Iterate this, and don't underestimate it.
- Use a "suction cup" with a large diameter, but minimize the volume inside it so the vacuums don't have to evacuate as much air to get a good grip
- Find some cheap vacuums (shop vac or hand-held, probably) which you can salvage the impeller and impeller housing from. Carefully disassemble them and press your own motor on (RS550 would be my recommendation, given the high free speed, stall-less application, and excellent power-to-weight ratio).
A vacuum should be pretty low-power... Ours used two Fisher Price motors, but each drew only a few amps if I recall correctly. Don't worry much about the current draw... it won't require hundreds of watts.
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"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up men to gather wood, divide the work, or give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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Student: 2006-2010 (#1519)
Mentor: 2011-Present (#1519)
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