TechHOUNDS Wheeled-Shooter Prototype 2014

[cnepo]

Originally Posted by Ether

Could you post some close-up photos* of the ball after it's been through the wringer a few times? There's a lot of speculation about damage to the fabric.


* preferably with a camera that has a macro setting so the focus is sharp

Here's a picture of our ball after close to 60 shots taken. The tears are from testing the compression on the ball, but nothing more than scuff marks once we got everything dialed in. We have continued to test and have not been able to create any more tears into the fabric.
http://i.imgur.com/5frvmdL.jpg

[Ether]

Originally Posted by cnepo

The tears are from testing the compression on the ball...

Could you clarify what you mean by "testing the compression" ?

[blaze8902]

I'm also interested in the data from your compression testing. If you'd be willing to share it, I'm sure many people would appreciate it. Potential fabric damage tests would be great as well, as Ether asked.

Oh, and a comment about the wheels you're using: Have you considered using pneumatic tires? We saw many of them last year for Frisbee launchers, and I think they might work well for your case. Both the wheel and the ball will compress, and it should mesh well together, and the rubber tire material should work well with the ball fabric also. I think teams ran into some balancing issues, but they worked well in the end, generally. Cheng Shin 200x50s is what we prototyped with last year.

[CheerlessBear]

If you where to use pneumatic wheels it might cause too much friction and tear the ball. Last year our robots pneumatic wheel in the shooter tore up frisbees so i would be concerned about using them this year.

[OzzyArmas]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!

We are a rookie team, we don't have enough parts to prototype and I kept insisting a wheel shooter would work but doubt continued in the team because of all those catapults. But no one had tested the wheels until now so.... THANK YOU!!!!

Our Robot design is now definite :3

[Aroki]

Originally Posted by OzzyArmas

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!

We are a rookie team, we don't have enough parts to prototype and I kept insisting a wheel shooter would work but doubt continued in the team because of all those catapults. But no one had tested the wheels until now so.... THANK YOU!!!!

Our Robot design is now definite :3

The challenge with a wheel shooter will be space, the OP's prototype is pretty much the size of the ball. If you wanted to be able to pick up, carry and chose when to fire you'd need to fit a separate pickup/carrying and firing space.

[Abhishek R]

Originally Posted by Aroki

The challenge with a wheel shooter will be space, the OP's prototype is pretty much the size of the ball. If you wanted to be able to pick up, carry and chose when to fire you'd need to fit a separate pickup/carrying and firing space.

Not necessarily. The shooter can be your carrying space. Many teams fed discs in 2013 through their shooter (if I remember correctly 868 was one of those).

[Aroki]

Originally Posted by Abhishek R

Not necessarily. The shooter can be your carrying space. Many teams fed discs in 2013 through their shooter (if I remember correctly 868 was one of those).

Yeah but you can't have it stored in contact with the shooter wheels so it has time to speed up before you shoot. I'm in no way saying it's impossible, just that it may be difficult to figure out.

[OzzyArmas]

Originally Posted by Aroki

Yeah but you can't have it stored in contact with the shooter wheels so it has time to speed up before you shoot. I'm in no way saying it's impossible, just that it may be difficult to figure out.

We are taking advantage of the extra 20" in each direction. The front is used to lower a pic up much like JVN and all those 3 day robots, the back will hold a box that opens 20" back so we can hold the ball there and use that space for catching the ball from other robots. The Shooter is much like those from 2012 with two wheels at the top and two at the bottom.

[efoote868]

Originally Posted by Abhishek R

Not necessarily. The shooter can be your carrying space. Many teams fed discs in 2013 through their shooter (if I remember correctly 868 was one of those).

Our shooter was underneath the hopper, so while it might looked like we were feeding into our shooter, we weren't

[4783 ravenators]

so i also discussed this design my team and they argued that there was no space. but after the match starts you can have 20" extra on each side so me and my design team made a prototype witch was to peaces of a circle like this () put together on rails and that expanded after the match starts like this ( ).
the only problem is we don't have gears and the ball can't shoot far enough so the rest of the team thinks this design is horrible but hey what can you do lol. i can also send out photos of the prototype if you want when i have the time.

[coalhot]

Are you guys using the newer (2012-present) kit wheels that have a "tread" on them, or the older ones that are smoother? Hard to tell from the vid.

[Whippet]

Originally Posted by coalhot

Are you guys using the newer (2012-present) kit wheels that have a "tread" on them, or the older ones that are smoother? Hard to tell from the vid.

Considering that the post says that they're 8" wheels, I assume that they're the smooth ones.