Is it possible to shoot the ball with pneumatics?

[Oblarg]

Originally Posted by Ether

Or this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDuA0...ature=youtu.be

That's a pretty impressive one. I wonder how they managed to get that much oomph out of a single cylinder (which looks like a rather small one, at that).

449 got our first-iteration prototype pneumatic shooter working (i.e. shooting through the goal from the ground) today, three days after deciding to try one. Not quite that slick, but very functional. It's not all that difficult; the geometry of the piston mount is the trick, look closely at some of the catapult designs teams have posted to get an idea of how to set one up.

You don't need any tricks with multiple solenoids or whatever to maximize airflow, by the way - we were getting the ball to the required height with a single solenoid feeding three cylinders.