pic: Team 23 Cannon Shooter

[MooreteP]

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[Sean Raia]

That cannon looks so intimidating. I think the appropriate word here is "legit". Bots like these (rather out of the box design) are always fun to watch.

[engunneer]

I was wondering when pictures of the scrimmage were going to turn up.

23 will be at WPI

[DominickC]

WPI, and we are thinking about Nationals as well

[Rogue Leader]

Wow. That thing looks like a self-propelled cannon! Very intimidating...

... I guess you're going to blow the competition away! Get it? Because it looks like a cannon? Anyone? No?...

[DominickC]

Yes, yes

[Bill_B]

Originally Posted by Rogue Leader

Wow. That thing looks like a self-propelled cannon! Very intimidating...

... I guess you're going to blow the competition away! Get it? Because it looks like a cannon? Anyone? No?...

They're going to blow field pieces* away because of the three fans in the breech of their "cannon/vacuum/bridge-tipper" are reversible. The tube looks like carbon-fiber construction, probably a custom for our rumble ball's diameter. The silvery collar and yoke slide back and forth on the tube as the large belt-driven wheel on the side adjusts its elevation.

This picture is at the beginning of the match. 23 is heading for the coop-bridge to try to dump the balls there onto the red side.

* you know, of course, that a fieldpiece is military artillery.

[mdiradoorian]

Definitely interesting, but I wonder if it is accurate and efficient.

[Bill_B]

Originally Posted by mdiradoorian

Definitely interesting, but I wonder if it is accurate and efficient.

One of the few that can get balls away from the corners of the walls. So even if all it could do was send them back over the bump to the "right" side, this would be useful. However, I think I saw it score one (or two) six-point shot in hybrid. Any good shooter needs practice. The thing to wonder is, is there another one not in a bag?

[mdiradoorian]

Originally Posted by Bill_B

One of the few that can get balls away from the corners of the walls. So even if all it could do was send them back over the bump to the "right" side, this would be useful. However, I think I saw it score one (or two) six-point shot in hybrid. Any good shooter needs practice. The thing to wonder is, is there another one not in a bag?

Good question. That is something to wonder.

[engunneer]

Dominick,

Mr. B told me how you got the Kinect going in the pits during the scrimmage. Good work. Are you using one arm for steer, and the other for speed?

[tsaksa]

Originally Posted by Bill_B

One of the few that can get balls away from the corners of the walls. So even if all it could do was send them back over the bump to the "right" side, this would be useful. However, I think I saw it score one (or two) six-point shot in hybrid. Any good shooter needs practice. The thing to wonder is, is there another one not in a bag?

I must admit when I first heard about this design concept I thought it couldn't work. At least not with any reasonably common fans. I expect that this design relies on some very impressive and powerful fans/blowers. If someone else is working on a similar design they would probably also need access to similar extremely powerful and possibly rare fans. I am guessing that this is a one of a kind design and we will not see another one at an upcoming match, but I am ready to be proved wrong again.

[engunneer]

Bill, the tube is not Carbon fiber, but in fact much cheaper. It has some nice Carbon fiber printed vinyl covering which gives the awesome look. I'm not sure If I'm allowed to talk about the underlying material or the fan source, but I can say they are extremely available parts.

[DominickC]

Originally Posted by engunneer

Bill, the tube is not Carbon fiber, but in fact much cheaper.

Shhh, they don't need to know that A custom carbon fiber tube would've exceeded to $400 limit on any one part. Too bad though!

We're able to make shots quickly and consistently. During one of our rounds, we were able to get three 3pt shots in within 1 minute.

@engunneer - Thanks! It was a stressful hour, for sure. As for the Kinect gestures - We're using the left arm to control the left motors, and the right arm to control the right side. Depending on what our objective is for a particular Autonomous round; drain a few 6pt shots or unload the neutral bridge, we change motor outputs and what certain gestures do.

[DominickC]

We're also yet to name it. Any witty ideas?