Blocking Shooting Robots

[Levin571]

Originally Posted by BradL

Mount a large fan on the top of your robot and blow there balls out of the way. Just a thought, probably won't work.

Funny you should mention that cause our team experimented with idea and came to the conclusion that the amount of power you need to generate the air to blow the ball away would cause your battery to run dry in a VERY short amount of time. But on the plus side, by blowing air upwards, you give your bot extra traction so if you find a good spot where you can shoot, collect, and block this would be a sweet idea (and amusing to watch). I like the way you think


BEHOLD, THE LEAF BLOWER OF DOOM!!!

[pwilczynski]

Suring the brainstorming, our team came up with making a sort of 'fan' that you could sit under the goals with and 'blow the current up and knock balls away. Power consumption would probably be very high, and it would take a really strong fan. it was a cool thought; our robot could have been The TORNADO!!

[KenWittlief]

You could mount a small Black Hole on the top of your bot, and park it in front of the center goal - that would work

just keep your human player away from the event horizon.

[Jared Russell]

Keep in mind the bumper rules this year.

Defense and contact are important and entertaining, but don't hit high or you risk penalty!

[Alekat]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

if you plan to defend your goals by blocking, that will be interesting. Your bot will have to be able to take a 12M/S shot to the head, repeatedly, and stay on its feet.

With the momentum of a poof ball at 12 m/s it's hardly a nudge. Although robots should always be protected from field components and other bots.

[EricRobodox]

Make an extending PVC pipe addition on both sides of a robot at exactly 5 feet. Have cloth connecting the two, but make it have slack so you can get around the flag. then you just keep following the robot with the cloth over it. It will force the ball back into the shooter, and piss off a team pretty bad. I decided against it for GP.

[sciencenerd]

Originally Posted by EricRobodox

Make an extending PVC pipe addition on both sides of a robot at exactly 5 feet. Have cloth connecting the two, but make it have slack so you can get around the flag. then you just keep following the robot with the cloth over it. It will force the ball back into the shooter, and piss off a team pretty bad. I decided against it for GP.

With the slack you suggest, the cloth between the two poles would droop down below 5', and when you tried to push it over another robot the fabric would probably get caught up on the front of the other robot.

But seriously, if you have enough time sitting in front of this 'bot that is trying to shoot to extend a drapery over it, you probably have time to find something else to do to foul their aim before they fire a ball.

EDIT: Hadn't meant to post yet

[Nuttyman54]

We did some tests with an electric leaf-blower and found that the only reliable way to knock a ball away with it was to track the ball...something taht would be quite hard. Even without the power restrictions we determined it wasn't feasible.

[i_am_Doug]

Originally Posted by BradL

Mount a large fan on the top of your robot and blow there balls out of the way. Just a thought, probably won't work.

ACTUALLY thats not a bad idea... *long as your under hight requirements* you could mount a fan on your robot. I'm thinking and i just did the math, that if you had a 22" fan blade going around 1500 RPM's you could blow away the 9" foam ball. you could use 1 CIM * i think thats there RPM's i haven't checked. if so.. you would only need to turn it on when they shoot other wise you can push balls in your corner or go on D. You need a tyranny with a really high recto so you get high speed in a matter of secs. AND the battery draw shouldn't be much since 2 Min's and only for a matter of sec's.. BUT don't listen to me i only build what my team says to *referring to last year because sadly I'm not on a team this one.*

Just my .02 cents

~Doug

[Leav]

I believe yu have all missed the best way!! shoot their ball out of the sky! (patriot missile style!)

the balls in our kit came with one half green. you could use the cmu_cam to track this green, plot the tracjectory, aim ahead of the ball and shoot it out like a digital nintendo duck!


-Leav

[FTtyler]

Originally Posted by i_am_Doug

Could some one "enlighten" me on the flag thing?

The flag can not be over your 5 ft limit.

[Wetzel]

Originally Posted by FTtyler

The flag can not be over your 5 ft limit.

This is incorrect. The flag can not exceed 6 ft. If your robot is 5ft, then it MUST be 12" taller.

Originally Posted by <R13>

Robots must use one of the two colored bicycle flags provided at the event queuing location to display their alliance color (red or blue). Each robot must include a 12 inch long, 1/2” ID PVC tube, capped at the bottom, permanently mounted on the robot such that when a 3 foot long, 1/4 inch diameter flagpole is inserted the top of the flagpole is no higher than 6 feet from the ground and the top of the flagpole is at least 12 inches higher than any other point on the robot (+/- 1/2 inch). The flagpole must be mounted such that it starts the match, and remains, approximately vertical. The flagpole receptacle must be statically mounted, and not articulated or actuated.

Wetzel