What a great idea for 2007 FRC ! Call the new game "Just Shoot Me!" (or something similar -- I guess that name is taken by the TV sitcom.)
This would take the "Aim High" concept to new heights! A new level of challenge for the human player!
Of course, it would need to be extensively tested by the GDC, and might require a few new items in the kit of parts ...
[edit]... and a few more batteries. A rough estimate goes like this: to accelerate a 120# 'foolhardy payload' to 40 MPH exit velocity at 13 ft launcher height would require about 500 lbf thrust for about half a second. Assuming 50% conversion efficiency from the battery, you'd need about 40 kW electrical power during that split-second. Since our 12V batteries can only deliver about 200 peak amperes, you'd need about 16 of them to do the job.
And like Andy, I'd recommend a reserve set of underpants for the person who has just been accelerated at about 4g and then hurled five stories into the air![/edit]
__________________
Richard Wallace
Mentor since 2011 for FRC 3620 Average Joes (St. Joseph, Michigan)
Mentor 2002-10 for FRC 931 Perpetual Chaos (St. Louis, Missouri)
since 2003
I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.
(Cosmic Religion : With Other Opinions and Aphorisms (1931) by Albert Einstein, p. 97)