Team Update #18

[Ether]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

Anyone want to poke holes in my analysis?

One obvious omission is that you did not account for the mass of the plate. The plate must be violently accelerated in the short amount of contact time it has with the minibot in order to move it enough to trip the sensor(s).

How much does a 12" diameter 0.25" thick polycarbonate plate weigh? My quick calculation says it's more than 4 Newtons (please check my math). So obviously 4 Newtons is not enough force to move the plate at all, let alone violently accelerate it. So where did the 2-4 Newton number in the manual come from?

The specification of what exactly is required of the minibot in order to trip the sensors is inadequate to allow accurate analysis. What exactly is being sensed? Proximity? Rate of change? Dwell time? Some combination? Does anyone know?