[Steve W]

I would recommend the Q&A for your answers. The way I read the rules, if energy is use to eject the ball from your robot (Gravity is stored energy) and the ball touches the gate that is outside of the 28 x 38, then it is an illegal shooter. If the ball drops straight down it is not being ejected but dropped. If the ball moves forward into the goal from inside the robot, it is then being "shot" as something is causing the ball to move forward out of the robot.

If the robot pushes balls into the goal then it is not shooting. If however the pushing device is a flipper that moves independently of the rest of the robot then I would call that a shooting device.

All this is only my humble opinion and should be followed up with a proper response from the Q&A.