Shooting from opposite side of the field

[Brandon_L]

After hearing the balls were foam, I was worried about how they would handle being launched with air resistance (as a foamy ball would barley go anywhere, like throwing a un-crumpled piece of paper). After I got my hands on one though, it seems a lot better then I thought it would be.

Anyway, my question would be do you think a shooter powerful enough to score from the other side of the field (or up against the bump on the other side, at least) be possible? and is scoring from the other side allowed? (I saw nothing in the rules)

[davidthefat]

Yes, I believe it is possible. However, to actually score, I believe it is a one in a thousand chance.

[pfreivald]

I think you'll see very competitive teams do it, yes.

[Djur]

I ran some quick calculations, and in order to score from an opposite corner, the ball would need to have an exit velocity of about 42 feet/second at a 45* angle.

[Brandon_L]

Originally Posted by Djur

I ran some quick calculations, and in order to score from an opposite corner, the ball would need to have an exit velocity of about 42 feet/second at a 45* angle.

corner, as in where human players put balls into play? what about somewhere closer but still on the other side?

What formulas did you use?

And thanks!

[Djur]

I used this trajectory calculator. It's pretty neat. This one may be useful, too.

Yeah, I meant the corner where the ball return is, but I can't see the velocity from the center of the opposite side being much different, maybe 40 ft/sec.

[Justin Montois]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

I think you'll see very competitive teams do it, yes.

By "do it" do you mean just shooting from the far side of the field or actually scoring...

[CalTran]

I've been doing some math, and 6inches from the edge and 6 inches from the very far back wall of the lane, it's a 55.0568foot shot to the goal, not including the distance for an angle to the top of the goal. The extra distance it has to go, assuming the cannon/turret is at the very top of the 60" limit, is negligible (About an inch or so). At any rate, a 55 foot shot is going to be quite difficult.From the research I've just been doing, it's 42' to half court, then you'd add another 13' to that.

[krazyman1013]

Look at the Peguineers robots from 2006.

[NorviewsVeteran]

On a less scientific note, I do remember nearly being pegged in the face in 2006 by an over propelled poof ball (I kept wondering why it was getting bigger and bigger...) while standing past the driver wall. While not quite the same as the basketballs this year, they can carry for some distance.

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by Justin Montois

By "do it" do you mean just shooting from the far side of the field or actually scoring...

I think you will see some teams consistently (or nearly consistently) score from just past half-court.

[Ryan_Davis]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

I think you will see some teams consistently (or nearly consistently) score from just past half-court.

That's frightening.

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by Ryan_Davis

That's frightening.

Do the math on a feeder bot actually being a shooter bot that coincidentally only feeds even most of the balls shot.

Assuming half of the missed shots from beyond the barrier are picked up by your alliance and the other half are picked up by the opposing alliance, what do you get?

25% shot accuracy yields a 1.5-1 advantage over your opponents.
33% shot accuracy yields a 2-1 advantage over your opponents.
50% shot accuracy yields a 3-1 advantage over your opponents...

And that doesn't take into account that every ball you score as feeder is a ball your alliance partners don't have to go get and score, which gives them time to do other things (like either play defense or go scoop up balls to make that ratio better than 50-50.)

Now mind you, the distance error in a shot is approximately x*tan(theta), where x is the distance from the hoop and theta is the number of degrees between the perfect shot and where you actually shot. This translates into a maximum tolerance of about one degree at half court (ignoring distance discrepancies). Crazy, unlikely, almost unbelievable -- but we're going for it. At the very least, it should improve our shooting from the key!

[mdiradoorian]

Who thinks that is it possible for a human player to make the shot from the corner? (doesn't matter which basket)

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by mdiradoorian

Who thinks that is it possible for a human player to make the shot from the corner? (doesn't matter which basket)

Possible, but not likely enough to make it much of a consideration in the game, methinks.