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Interesting solution. Here's another: Have the frisbees lying on the ground. Use a system like my launcher ( or maybe even the launcher that can move up and down) and have it drive over the frisbee and
suck it up into a storage container.
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Sucking could only be used if FIRST relaxed the "custom pneumatics" rule. Two years ago they prohibited suction systems from picking up the big balls.
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Ball collection systems will begin looking similar to previous years. Teams who manipulated balls will have
advanced knowledge over rookies and 'non-ball' handling teams, giving them an unfair advantage.
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Unfortunately, teams with large engineering staffs will have a huge advantage over teams with a small engineering staff if FIRST goes with a completely new challenge. Further, a totally new challenge will result in one or two "good" solutions and a bunch of "good ideas, poorly implemented."
IMHO, staying with balls (not necessarily the exact same balls as either this year or last year) actually levels the playing field, since non-ball handling teams can look at what worked for ball handling teams the previous year. Granted, my team picked up balls in 2000 and 2002, so I have a slight bias on this issue.
Although I would love to manipulate frisbees or footballs, I would also love to iterate one more time and have a professional quality pick-up and shooter for round balls. JUST GIVE ME SOMETHING TO THROW!
Andrew, Team 356