Ball Trajectory Planning

[Tom I]

I think the general agreement by most is that the math is VERY complex if you include all the contributing factors, but in reality it's not that important in the long run. I think teams should definitely put thought into the trajectory of their throwers, but anything beyond simple kinematic equations is going to be wasted effort. I think the quote from Ian Curtis put it best,

Entire books have been written on drag, but FIRST robots tend to operate pretty well on the back of a napkin.

Rather than worry about every little detail that could potentially throw off a throw, people need to realize that this game, by it's nature, is going to be full of variables. Heck, the balls are going to get sliced up, no doubt, so that right there is going to throw off any calculations of drag. The best thing to do is to do basic calculations to get a good idea, then build a shooter that is consistent, and try to get as accurate as you can but accept the fact that there will always be percent error. The old expression goes "measure with a micrometer, mark with chalk, cut with an ax."

[Dan.Tyler]

Originally Posted by Tom I

I think the general agreement by most is that the math is VERY complex if you include all the contributing factors, but in reality it's not that important in the long run. I think teams should definitely put thought into the trajectory of their throwers, but anything beyond simple kinematic equations is going to be wasted effort. I think the quote from Ian Curtis put it best,

Rather than worry about every little detail that could potentially throw off a throw, people need to realize that this game, by it's nature, is going to be full of variables. Heck, the balls are going to get sliced up, no doubt, so that right there is going to throw off any calculations of drag. The best thing to do is to do basic calculations to get a good idea, then build a shooter that is consistent, and try to get as accurate as you can but accept the fact that there will always be percent error. The old expression goes "measure with a micrometer, mark with chalk, cut with an ax."

I'd have to fervently agree with the sentiment here.

But, some people still like to do the math. So I thought I'd hand over a few more tidbits of information like the word "boundary layer" to open a world to as much math as they could possibly want (and the realization that all the math in the world can't describe how air behaves)

[Michael Hill]

See this thread: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=99485

[kws4000]

I cooked this program up a while ago... more like more than a year ago, and I'm not sure how it still works, but it does. Based entirely on the metric system, uses meters/kilograms/seconds/degrees/jouiles/etc std SI units.

I planned on making it able to work backwards using given variables but never got that far. Feel free to edit, compile and post. Executable in the zip, scource in the .c file.