[martin417]

It depends on what you mean by "defense". We had two FP driven propellers on our bot that provided 6-8 lb.s of thrust. At one point, when our ball intake broke, our driver pushed 1319 (flash) all the way down the field sideways, to the human player, who then scored two super cells.

If, on the other hand, you mean using an air stream to deflect orbit balls, then no. We did some experimentation using a 3 hp leaf blower. While you could push the orbit balls around on the ground easily enough, we were not able to change the trajectory of an incoming orbit ball enough to make much difference. We decided that it wasn't worth pursuing.