Tytus-
Excellent points. The FIRST Q&A system has addressed many of the concerns that you raise. Those that are considering a pneumatic launch system would be wise to familiarize themselves with these Q&A answers. Your concern about making sure a team with such a system is prepared and not surprised when they get to the inspection table is right on target.
The topic of using pneumatic cylinders as gas springs is addressed in
this Q&A answer (you can't do it). Mechanically compressing the cylinder to create a working pressure higher than 60 psi is addressed in
this Q&A answer (you can't do it). And the idea of mechanically restraining a pressurized cylinder and rapidly releasing it to launch a Trackball is addressed in
this Q&A answer (you can do it under certain conditions).
-dave
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