How do we launch this thing? 2014

[thinker&planner]

I have contemplated most of these designs, in addition to a cam design. Our team plans to test a pneumatic shooter, but does not predict great success.

Personally, I believe that Simbotics' 2008 robot has a very nice design that would work extremely well this year.

I believe that the best designs are wither something similar to Simbotics' 2008 shooter or some sort of cam with a huge boot attached to the corresponding "hammer". (Google "da Vinci cam")

[RRLedford]

What you want to accomplish with your launches will dictate how you launch.

Aerial shots:
-Lower angle (<45º line drive) high goal shots?
-Arching (~45º+) high goal shots?
-Over truss 45º shots?
-Over truss near vertical shots (robot keeps rolling and catches ball on other side of truss -no catch points; posession maintained)
-Over truss shots


Low to floor shots:
-Passing only?
-Low goal shots across floor?
-Robot-to-robot transfer/assist passing?
-Passing to human "shots"?

Handling all these well would require both a variable energy launcher and a variable angle launcher spanning nearly a 90º arch in the vertical plane.
A turret for targeting some amount to left-right might also be useful.

Our team is starting out building a surgical tubing powered ram launcher.
The ram will have an infinitely variable retraction tension cord winder with a trigger system that only accelerates the ram itself and the tension cord - no stored energy wasted on anything else - like a crossbow, but without the bow.

We are prototyping now to see how compact and short travel of a ram we can have while still shooting fast enough for consistent accuracy and adequate trajectory & travel.

We are not yet clear now many degrees the shooting angle of ram will need to be made adjustable. We also want to load balls as high up on the bot as possible, so shots cannot be easily blocked, and less energy needed to clear truss and hit the high goal.

-Dick Ledford