What's your robot design?

[Donut]

1. Yes, we have a launcher (one wheeled). We are changing speed while maintaining a constant angle (we likely will be able to change this angle between matches).

2. The angle of the camera from center (based off the servo pwm values) is run through a series of equations to determine ~desired speed (we did not factor in air resistance) and to rotate the shooter to the correct heading. These equations are done in a spreadsheet outside of the program and the final values are just put into a lookup table in the program.

A banner sensor is being used to measure the speed of the wheel so that we can maintain a certain speed rather than pwm, accounting for battery voltage changes.

The shooter can also be changed from auto tracking mode to manual tracking mode, where the 2nd driver uses a joystick and 4 push buttons to control direction of the rotator and desired speed (this speed is displayed in the user byte on the OI).

3. From the tests we've done, accurate provided you give it enough time to get back up to speed after each shot. We have not tried shooting in a goal since we completely finished all the bracing on it, so it should be even more accurate now.

I do not know how well anything in answer #2 works, we have to actually finish it and test it to see that.

[Mentor Dave]

It's amazing to me as a rookie mentor for a rookie team that many of our initial concepts were dead-on with what many of the experienced teams seem to be building. So, I'm thrilled that our thought processes were on the right track.

1. Being new, we felt we didn't have the experience or organizational structure yet to successfully execute our initial concept within the given time constraints. So, we're sticking with a corner scorer, and ramp climber!

2. Collect & dump

[Jared Russell]

1. Yes
2. Target "y" position in camera frame is translated into a range, and the speed of the shooter is adjusted accordingly.
3. 4" grouping from 30+ ft.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Mentor Dave

It's amazing to me as a rookie mentor for a rookie team that many of our initial concepts were dead-on with what many of the experienced teams seem to be building. So, I'm thrilled that our thought processes were on the right track.

I imagine that the softball pitching machine shown during the kickoff had a significant effect on teams' initial concepts.

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

I imagine that the softball pitching machine shown during the kickoff had a significant effect on teams' initial concepts.

If you've spent a cumulative 12 kid-years in Little League, it didn't take any prompting...

We set out NOT to build a wheel launcher at first, mostly because we wanted to do something different. After going through the issues of energy management, ease of construction, and packaging, the single-wheel launcher won. I want to see someone using a twin-belt launcher, though, as I still think it will be more repeatable. I really want to see a pneumatic catapult or kicker!

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

I really want to see a pneumatic catapult or kicker!

I think it's been argued convincingly that the permitted air compressor doesn't have the capacity to power a pneumatic launcher for very long.

[d.courtney]

1. Yes
2. I am working on a more complex method now for the thing to be quicker, but we have had 90% accuracy from calculating the angle, moving to an ideal location (which in itself is about no more then 20 lines) and in 3 lines shooting the thing... so in a bit less the 25 lines I've made an autonomous that can shoot about 4 of the balls (but then again a few of the lines are calling functions from other files...), with 90% accuracy within the 10 sec frame.
3. again 90%

[EricH]

1) Yes.
2) Not sure; I think it's both physical and software.
3) Classified.

[Nita]

1) Is your team building a launcher for this year's game?
Yes

2) If yes, then how are you making the shooter accurate?
From what I know and understand so far, I don't know if it'll be accurate(the camera hasn't been tested yet).

3) Approximately how accurate is the launcher?
When set on one fixed spot, this video will show you.
http://www.anonobots-1190.com/downloads/videos

[Jeremiah H]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

I want to see someone using a twin-belt launcher, though, as I still think it will be more repeatable.

I brought this idea up right after we saw this year's game. I proposed a twin-belt design with a belt on the top and bottom, the top belt moving slightly slower than the bottom belt, giving the ball a slight backspin and thereby more long-range accuracy. But, alas, this idea was hacked immediately due to the (percieved) high design time with few advantages gained. I really would like to talk to someone from a team that prototyped something like this, or even better, had it on their robot.