[TheHolyHades1]

Originally Posted by dougwilliams

We also implemented a dual cylinder pneumatic launcher - similar to what you are trying to achieve. There are a few things I would do to yours to maximize your launch:

1- At the back of your launcher arm you need small "armlets" (we called them) that will cradle and hold the ball. This will be the last point of contact as the ball is going through the arc of the launcher and will (drastically) effect the launch trajectory. Your launch appears to be going more up, and needs more forward. The angle and length makes a big difference - even a 1/4 inch changed distances and heights for us.

That's certainly one thing we were considering. However, the problem is that if an opposing team's ball was to get into our system then we wouldn't be able to release it without shooting it, which would be a penalty on us. How were you able to avoid this problem?

Originally Posted by dougwilliams

I had a proto launch video that I cant find , but I will link these two of our completed robot:

http://www.wicz.com/news/video.asp?v...Eflv&zone=News

http://www.wbng.com/news/local/Tiger...249661331.html

You can see the geometry better than I can describe.

2 - You are giving up a good amount of energy by only using half of the stroke on those pistons. You can pull them backward or raise them up and use up more stroke. I don't think you need a third. Based on that, you need to be mindful of cam-locking the throwing arm.

Interesting design, congrats on going to nationals and on making the news. The problem that I'd think we'd have with implementing something like that is that you've got the pistons pointed horizontally (roughly), instead of roughly vertically as we do. I'm not entirely sure how we could stick to this and still be able to have the pistons start at their low point and extend fully, though I'm certainly open to any suggestions for anything that may have slipped my mind. We considered mounting it similar to the way you do, ie. horizontally, but the way the robot is built right now I'm not exactly sure where we could go about doing that; again, if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them.

Originally Posted by dougwilliams

3 - I agree with the gate latch and pre-pressurize the cylinders in a retracted position and then just release the latch. (It worked for us).

Could you perhaps post a bit more information about your gate latch system, and what you're using to latch/unlatch it?

Originally Posted by dougwilliams

Looking at your construction - You will need to heavily reinforce it. I know it's a prototype- even what we did in our competition robot was put under immense stress and pulled itself apart and needed reinforcement during the regionals.

Gotcha, thanks. If this ends up getting mounted to the robot, we'll still have approximately 10 pounds to work with, so nearly all of that can go to reinforcements and it almost certainly will; I figure a bit of energy is being lost in vibrations (as seen on the testing rig), so some reinforcement should certainly help.

Originally Posted by dougwilliams

Airflow was a bit of an issue as well and we minimized all runs of tubing and extra T's and such in the system.

We will make sure we do that, thanks. Did you find that the solenoids were limiting you after you did this optimization?