[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Dulaney1727

We have tried many different ways of shooting the ball including springs and pneumatics but they have all failed miserably. We are now attempting to use a motor to spin two wheels to try and shoot the ball, similar to a baseball gun at the batting cages. Are we heading in the right direction? Has this worked for one yet?

Yes, it will work.

Here's a hint on another direction: If you spin one wheel at about twice the speed you think the ball needs to fly, and mount a flat plate about six inches above the wheel, the ball will fly nicely and have really cool-looking backspin. The trick is to mount the right-sized plate the right height above the wheel at the correct angle. This takes some trial and error, but you should be able to do it in an afternoon. A single-wheel launcher is a lot easier to engineer than a two-wheel launcher. If you mount it near the bottom of your 'bot, you can take advantage of gravity feed, too.

I would post a picture of our single-wheel prototype, except that we seem to have dismantled it before taking a picture. Oops. It wasn't pretty, anyway. It would hit the 8-1/2 foot goal from more than 15 feet away, and this was with a bench grinder motor driving a steel rod using holes in plywood as bearings. With a proper motor (*cough* big CIM *cough*), some decent bearings, and the right drive mechanism (*cough* Gates timing belt *cough*), it will make a simple, reliable shooter.