2008 vs 2014 Ball

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by WarehouseCrew

How does the ball from the 2008 season compare to the 2014 ball (eg. size, weight, fabric cover, inflation, how much it "bounces" when dropped or thrown, etc.)?

We are looking at videos of 2008 robots and would like to understand if similar mechanisms would work with the 2014 ball or if ball characteristics are different enough to require significant modifications.

The cover seems like the same fabric.

The 2008 ball was 8 pounds and 40" in diameter. This year's ball is 2 pounds.

[WarehouseCrew]

Thanks! It is helpful to know that the 2014 ball is both smaller and lighter than the 2008 ball.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by WarehouseCrew

Thanks! It is helpful to know that the 2014 ball is both smaller and lighter than the 2008 ball.

If your team has not already done so, I highly recommend you begin a thorough look into what these two groups of people have done within the past 3 days.

http://www.buildblitz.com/


http://www.robotin3days.com/

[WarehouseCrew]

Does the ball have similar characteristics? For example when thrown buy human player or robot, will both have similar bounce (eg. making floor pickup more time consuming) or ease of rolling on the carpet?

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

The 2008 ball was 8 pounds and 40" in diameter. This year's ball is 2 pounds.

Not sure about your accuracy on the 2008 ball, but from what I've been seeing, the 2014 ball is more like 2.75lbs.

If I had to guess, I wouldn't have said the 2008 ball was 8 pounds, (I'd guess lighter, in the 5-6 lb range), but maybe.

Otherwise, though, the balls are of similar construction. The fabric pouches are similar and the bladder inside is similar too. From what I recall (I haven't had a 2008 ball in my hands in a few years), they have similar "bounciness" characteristics.

Overall, I would say yes, lessons learned from mechanisms used in 2008 will be VERY applicable to manipulating the 2014 BALL.

[Abhishek R]

Originally Posted by Racer26

If I had to guess, I wouldn't have said the 2008 ball was 8 pounds, (I'd guess lighter, in the 5-6 lb range), but maybe.

It was more than 5-6 pounds.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Racer26

If I had to guess, I wouldn't have said the 2008 ball was 8 pounds, (I'd guess lighter, in the 5-6 lb range), but maybe.

Per the 2008 manual, they weighed 7.3 lbs.