Ball Chasing

[stuy694]

I was wondering if anyone had thoughts about where all these balls are gonna go after they get released and if it would be anything like 2002 where once they were scattered, it was almost impossible to grab/push more than 2 or 3 balls into an intended direction.
Oh an any thoughts on wether a robot that stood under the ball release and caught all 18 balls as they were released would be worth the effort?
And last question, what do you think the chances of a robot hitting both of the trigger 10 point balls during autonmous mode are? (because from what i can tell, there was like a foot of space between the two balls)

[mightywombat]

My guess would be that once the balls are dropped its going to be crazy. And my crazy I mean like totally nuts. Theres going to be balls all over the place. Do you think they might bounce? (The team members that got the kit of parts haven't returned yet so I haven't had the chance to play with the stuff). If they bounce it will be insane. Even if they don't I think it will be very hard to control more than two at a time unless a very nice pusher thing is developed. I also think that it is very likely that some robots may knock off both of the bonus balls. In fact my team might try to pick up both because they are both worth 10 points to us. As far as a bot that catches all of the balls.... it'd be cool I guess. I'm not sure.

[DaBruteForceGuy]

... when it comes to trying to figure out where the balls are going to go after the release... well i try not to think of that, it hurts in otherwords it's too chaotic a problem to figure out where a bunch of spheres are going to go and be accurate every time......
I have thought of going under the ball tray for when it releases to collect the balls (obviously tugging along a goal) and i just figure that would depend too much on how the match started out (if the balls were released right away or had to wait or...)... also brings me back to the chaos theory and how many balls would actually make their way into the goal, it jsut might not be worth the effort when you could just scoop to the human player and dump the right over....

[KenWittlief]

the rules say a ball must be placed in the goal by the human player - only the human player

not being a lawyer, I take that to mean any ball that lands in the goal by any other means will not count

if you are lost on how to gather the balls, think of equipment that is in existance that does something similar.

Ever been to a driving range?

Do you have a leaf sweeper?

a carpet sweeper?

ever play billards?

soccer?

hockey?

foosball?

...?

[stuy694]

So um does anyone think a robot that catches all 18 balls as they are released from ball storage thingy above the player station is gonna be worth the effort?

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by stuy694

So um does anyone think a robot that catches all 18 balls as they are released from ball storage thingy above the player station is gonna be worth the effort?

I guarantee that someone will