Full Court Shooter!!! (Team 3528 UpNext)

[TheCrayButton]

Originally Posted by CalTran

Ah right then. That would make more sense. What height are you shooting from, and will it be a variable height/angle?

In the video, we are shooting from about 3ft. And we are attaching lead screws to the shooter, so we can get any angle.

[JohnFogarty]

Looks like this teams gets a cookie.

[Racer26]

This video seems to prove that the full-court shooter is a viable (albeit somewhat easily defended) match strategy.

I say somewhat, because if you're touching that loading station carpet, you're untouchable, and if you design your shooter right at the top of your 60" envelope, you may be able to get enough rise out of your frisbees to clear an 84" robot just a few inches away.

[TheCrayButton]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

This video seems to prove that the full-court shooter is a viable (albeit somewhat easily defended) match strategy.

I say somewhat, because if you're touching that loading station carpet, you're untouchable, and if you design your shooter right at the top of your 60" envelope, you may be able to get enough rise out of your frisbees to clear an 84" robot just a few inches away.

That is very true! If your robot is not high enough, other robots could defend you at the loading station. Our robot (as of now) is only going to be 28inch tall. So we might have that problem. If so, we will just pick frisbee's off the ground and score at the 3rd goal.

[Racer26]

I saw another strategy mentioned in another thread, and I think you might see some of the powerhouses make use of it in Eliminations at shallow-ish regionals.

Redabot1 is a 60" tall high-accuracy full court shooter intended to shoot from the loading station.
Redabot2 is unknown
Redabot3 is a short, weak box bot as the 24th pick.

Bluabot is an 84" tall blocker bot.

Redabot1 goes to its loading station with Redabot3 glued to its bumper on the shooter exit face.

Bluabot can get no closer to the shooter of Redabot1 than the length of Redabot3's chassis. This should give enough distance for Redabot1's DISCs to rise above Bluabot's 84" block.

[TheCrayButton]

Yeah exactly! That will probably happen. But I think there will be very few robots that are 60'' tall and can shoot that well. There are just a lot of factors that would make it unreliable. From my experience with FIRST, top heavy robots never seem to do well at all.

[JB987]

Or...Redabot 1 tips over well before reaching the loading station due to its raised cg.

[TheCrayButton]

hahaha exactly! That is what will probably happen. Our drive train has two speeds so we could easily ram someone that high and knock them over.

[Woolly]

Originally Posted by JB987

Or...Redabot 1 tips over well before reaching the loading station due to its raised cg.

That's what my money's on.

If you look at our robot last year, on a 38X28 base, 60" was pushing it on how high we could go before becoming incredibly unstable. Granted, this was with a shooter on the top of the robot, but still that means that it will be very unlikely that any shooting robot will be successful with a height of over 45" tall. Defensive bots with light superstructures and a heavy bases made explicitly for blocking Frisbees can probably be taller than that, but they better be careful about it. If they even slightly out-build their base, they need to either have some sort of anchoring system, or be ready to end up on their side in a pushing match between them and the team they're blocking.

[MrForbes]

I sketched a design for a tall shooter, there is no need for it to tip over, it doesn't need to have much weight up top if it's designed well. I hope we see a few of them that pump Frisbees in the high goal like crazy.

[TheCrayButton]

I would say it is really hard to design a robot that is tall and that is not easily knocked over. Yes, i can be done, but in the 6 weeks we have to build, it is very difficult.

I believe there will be teams that are tall and can shoot well, but they will not make it very far because they can be blocked before they even get in their shooting position. Remember, the robot has to drive almost the whole length of the field to get to its shooting position.

[MrForbes]

We made a tall robot in 2007 that never even thought about falling over, it was very bottom heavy, even though it was 60" tall and had an arm about 50" long sticking out of it. It is a little bit more challenging this year with the reduced frame perimeter, but it's still very doable. A full court shooter does not need to store any discs, it just needs to get them dropped in one at at time and shoot them right out. I can't see it needing more than ten pounds above the base of the robot.

[Woolly]

Originally Posted by TheCrayButton

I would say it is really hard to design a robot that is tall and that is not easily knocked over. Yes, i can be done, but in the 6 weeks we have to build, it is very difficult.

I believe there will be teams that are tall and can shoot well, but they will not make it very far because they can be blocked before they even get in their shooting position. Remember, the robot has to drive almost the whole length of the field to get to its shooting position.

Right, but there still a few ways that could work out for them.

They could somehow be able to shoot full court with an incredibly light shooter.
They could have a collection system and just pick up the few missed shots from a robot like yours and put them in for that extra ~15 points.
Or, maybe they can't make it full court but they have a teammate they can feed to a la Bomb Squad on Einstein last year.

Which of those options, only the literal long shot allows for a self-sufficient robot which is very important for qualification matches. Thus, I think most teams will pass on being very tall.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by TheCrayButton

I would say it is really hard to design a robot that is tall and that is not easily knocked over. Yes, i can be done, but in the 6 weeks we have to build, it is very difficult.

I believe there will be teams that are tall and can shoot well, but they will not make it very far because they can be blocked before they even get in their shooting position. Remember, the robot has to drive almost the whole length of the field to get to its shooting position.

6 weeks? Making a tall robot that doesn't tip can be done over lunch break at your regional. Lexan and some 1/16in box aluminum doesn't weigh very much.

Also as a word of caution, intentionally tipping an opponent ends very, very badly.

[Woolly]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

6 weeks? Making a tall robot that doesn't tip can be done over lunch break at your regional. Lexan and some 1/16in box aluminum doesn't weigh very much.

Also as a word of caution, intentionally tipping an opponent ends very, very badly.

But what if the Frisbee they're trying to block is shot so hard it knocks them over?