Quote:
Originally Posted by Giffgiff27
What was the evolution of your shooter? Did it start out as just a claw, and then worked its way into a shooter and then into a passing robot? Or did you know from the start the basics of what you wanted the entire thing to be able to do? Also, when you were building it, did you ever think about using the height of the robot to block shots, or did you just block shots if you truly needed to, so that you wouldn't risk possible damage to your shooter?
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After kickoff weekend, we decided to prototype three different types of scoring mechanisms. In priority order they were:
1. Wheeled Shooter
2. Linear Punch
3. Catapult
The wheeled shooter and linear punch both appealed to us because they lent themselves to geometry such that we could integrate them right into the intake/claw, similar to what we did in 2008 with Simbot SS. The
early wheeled shooter prototypes immediately showed a lot of promise, thus we quickly decided to move in that direction. Our early design priorities included scoring from 18' out while standing still and having a deadly accurate shot. We knew distance would be easier to achieve using a stored energy solution (like the linear punch or catapult), however our past stored energy devices (2008 shooter, 2010 kicker) were not particularly consistent, especially when factoring in the wear on the surgical tubing. As such, we ended up sacrificing a bit of distance to gain the consistency that came with the wheeled shooter. Granted, when we made the tradeoff, we were still very confident we could score from a standstill at 18' from the goal. It took us until the second half of build season to fully abandon that goal.
Yes, blocking shots with the height of the claw was always a huge consideration for us. Once we realized that our shooting geometry was going to make us a tall robot, we knew we were going to take advantage of it defensively.