Air Defense System

[Chickenonastick]

Originally Posted by Rocketeeringer

which is exactly why we decided on the air defense method, we just need to know if it is illegal or not in the spirit

What would you use to generate an updraft?

[Rocketeeringer]

Originally Posted by Chickenonastick

What would you use to generate an updraft?

pneumatic cannon, i think fans are illegal under Robot 4.1.8 Motors and Actuators,
or maybe a vacuum, that is exempt

[the man]

If you switch out the motors on a vacuum or fan you could use it.

[blayde5]

We are allowed 22 motors this year...

[Sean Raia]

Originally Posted by blayde5

We are allowed 22 motors this year...

Indeed we are. I guess i don't see your point?

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by blayde5

We are allowed 22 motors this year...

Originally Posted by Sean Raia

Indeed we are. I guess i don't see your point?

I think blayde is trying to insinuate you can throw multiple motors at a hypothetical vacuum/fan solution.

At the same time, I'd say the free speeds of many of those motors would make them unsuitable for the task (consider the copious amounts of window motors in the mix).

[mikegrundvig]

This seems very difficult with the tiny air compressor and limited battery life. I fly lots of quad copters and even the huge amount of wind a 10" prop at significant RPM puts out with a brushless motor wouldn't make a huge impact on the ball at 3'

-Mike

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by Rocketeeringer

pneumatic cannon, i think fans are illegal under Robot 4.1.8 Motors and Actuators,
or maybe a vacuum, that is exempt

Fans are not illegal, please quote where you thing they are.

A pneumatic cannon would be difficult with the small valves we use.

[Thermal]

I do not see anything in the rules that would directly prohibit a team putting a swamp-boat esque shrouded fan powered by a cim on the top of their robot pointing directly up (or at an angle maybe 20 degrees from vertical). A 20" diameter fan powered by 2 cims would be.... scary. Possibly effective, but i'd have to see a prototype. As a hunch though, i'd say it'd be very effective at blocking the middle tier goals, but probably ineffective at changing the path of balls aimed at the top tier goals (unless you're right in front of the robot lobbing for the top rung and can impact the balls motion right as it leaves the robot)

[Ninja_Bait]

You don't want it to point up, you want it to point slightly to one side. Pushing the ball up may not cause a miss (it just falls into the basket from a higher point). Pushing the ball to the side will disrupt the intended trajectory in both azimuth and elevation, and make it more likely to miss.

[Rocketeeringer]

Originally Posted by Ninja_Bait

You don't want it to point up, you want it to point slightly to one side. Pushing the ball up may not cause a miss (it just falls into the basket from a higher point). Pushing the ball to the side will disrupt the intended trajectory in both azimuth and elevation, and make it more likely to miss.

Pointing it up could actually assist the ball into the hoop if you're unlucky

[tcjinaz]

So instead of air, uses balls as SAM's (Surface to Air Missile).

[Ninja_Bait]

If you can hit a ball with another ball, you should:
a. work for NASA and:
b. use your impressive engineering and programming skills to make a killer offensive robot instead of a defensive one.

[gyroscopeRaptor]

Also, pushing the balls up may likely push them out of the court, incurring a foul under <G13>.

This makes any uber-fan idea flawed, IMO.

[theprgramerdude]

Originally Posted by gyroscopeRaptor

Also, pushing the balls up may likely push them out of the court, incurring a foul under <G13>.

This makes any uber-fan idea flawed, IMO.

Completely feasible, IMO. It's not a matter of generating tornado-strength winds here, it's simply about generating a directed draft that, for the fraction of a second that the ball is in the jet stream from the fan, apply a force that alters it's momentum to the side by a tiny amount. By the time the ball reaches the next, it'd have moved enough to possibly cause a missed shot.

A similar idea is with making space objects miss Earth; a small force early in flight can cause a huge gap later. For this, the fact that the shots need to be rather precise means that the fact that time in flight is short wouldn't matter if a decent amount of force is applied.

The balls weight will prevent any serious deflection, but a draft from a decently-sized fan (20"?) powered by a few motors should provide quite a bit of push necessary to move anything in it's way.'

Edit: And a brilliant idea just occurred to me: Why not have an active targeting system combined with the air knife idea?
I.E. A giant fan is always running when needed, producing a huge draft, which is then directed into a controlled funnel system that automatically turns towards and directs the air into the path of inbound basketballs. It'd have the force bonus of a funnel while being capable of constantly hitting the ball, drastically increasing the impulse given to the ball, changing it's course.