[Wayne Doenges]

are the large pistons mounted on a casing around the forkside axle shaft?

There's a funny story associated with the piston mounting. The CAD file had them one length and the actual pistons were another. It turned out great as we were able to mount the pistons to our Omni-Wheel shafts. weight savings

and whats the release and reset mechanism on the forks?

If you look at the end of the forks you will see two pieces of UHMW. The robot sits on these in the starting position and the forks will fall forward when we move forward.

and are the ropes and gas piston? there to support the welds on the forks?

The gas piston (now removed) was to help the forks fall forward. We found we didn't need it. The yellow ropes are to take up the strain, of the forks when we fire. The welds won't fail. The forks would bend before that would happen. We are planning on making a second set of forks.
Good questions.