Team 314 Launcher

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by WaterClaw

When firing forward, it worries me that the ball curves in flight when firing forward. I am simply stating facts. I like it, however it is inaccurate. Precision is clearly on par, but accuracy has me worried.

Granted it is a prototype, but I'm stating facts. The catapult system is ultimately unreliable if you cannot assert control over the x axis. With fine tuning yes, this will be rectified, but as to your prototype, it is inaccurate.

Regardless of the facts, I do not find it appropriate for you to ridicule what is clearly my personal opinion.

I am curious as to your definitions of accuracy and precision.
I would also ask which axis you are determining to be the x axis?

I found this prototype to be quite accurate. In the initial shots it was not scoring... but as it moved in it was hitting nearly every time into the goal. After moving in the first time it showed that they had found something that was remarkable. The "sweet spot" was quite big. In this, I mean that the shooter could be several different distances from the goal, and still score.

The purpose of the shooter is to score a goal. If it does that it is accomplishing the task. One can define this as accuracy. The goals have a quite large margin for error side to side. (Is this the x axis as you defined?)

I found the shots to be quite precise by the standard definition ... given that they were moving up the apparatus by hand and often did not have it lined up quite the same. The ball was almost always in the same place in the goal and within 4-6 feet side to side.

Please understand that no one is ridiculing your statement. I honestly took it for sarcasm also when I first read your statement that the prototype was inaccurate. I thought that their prototype was amazingly accurate and the discovery of the large "sweet spot" was an eye opener for me.

Now my definition of accurate was being able to put the ball in the goal.
Evidently you must have a different definition. That is fine.

I showed this video to all of my designers... I thought it was remarkable to see the evidence that a shot could be taken from a number of different distances with the same stroke and power and still be successful.

This changes the way I see the game being played. It also may explain why there are no safe/protected zones. With goals as wide as these and the evidence in this video about what CAN be done with a simple launcher it changes the way I think offense will be done in the scoring zone.

Thank you for your comments