new balls vs. old used up balls

[agndoggieboi]

Ok we just found out that there is a slight difference between the new ball and the old ball (not that the old ball looks more ugly then the new ones) that makes it difficult to shoot from far distances. we found out that using the new balls that it would go completely over the goal...really over. I'm just wondering if any other teams found out about this.
and plz tell us how u figure out how to compensate for the new balls with the old balls. but this really depends on what kind of shooter u have.
man good thing we caught this semi-early.

[sanddrag]

You mean your robot doesn't have spherical scoring object wear compensation? I thought it was included in the kit.

Jokes aside, it is just a fact of life, without any great way to deal with it (just like the hard spot on the ball).

[FTtyler]

You are talking about the poof balls right?
JK JK...

[Taylor]

We saved the majority of our poof balls until we had the shooter pretty much complete - we'll use the brand-new balls to calibrate the machine, and if we get an old one in gameplay we'll adjust accordingly (or just miss). We found similar results - the one ball we beat the snot out of travels about 2/3 the distance of one fresh out of the wrapper. Fortunately, the accuracy remains pretty consistent - the difference is in range.

[Eldarion]

As someone else said, "it's part of the game challenge"

[Rich Wong]

I'm sure the field supervisor and field setters will replace the balls that are worn or when the surface starts to disintegrate.

Or install a SSOWC (spherical scoring object wear compensator).

[paulcd2000]

go not having to deal with it becuase we don't have a shooter!!! but seriously, try lowering the speed of the shooter's motor

[kyleg242]

The velocity of the shooter doesn't matter the ball's still don't work as well been trying to compensate for this but it has not worked all that well. I think that the competetionn will use new ball anyway though. but if not

[Jared Russell]

Hmm...we have balls that barely resemble balls anymore, and there's no real change in accuracy or range.

However, we have found that balls that have already started to tear (from our prototypes) spit confetti, while new balls barely have any marks on them.

[Leo 1529]

boiler is right we hid the balls because the freshmen like to throw them and destroy them with tools... we have one example of a torn up ball

[Gdeaver]

Everyone is worrying about beat up balls and shooting. Even more concerning is the way old balls compress and bind more readily in the conveyance mech. Many teams may find they can move new balls around Only to find old ones jam putting their shooter out of commission. Test, test, test.

[Cody Carey]

OK, how our team is dealing with this is as follows:

We are changing the distance of the ball be varying the speed of the launching wheel, so we can have the angle that we launch the ball be adjustable (not actuated mind you; Manually adjustable) .Since all of the balls will wear at a pretty much steady rate (with a few acceptions), we can change the angle of the shooter as the competition goes on, thus changing the arc it sends the torn up balls in, and avoiding any complexed compensation programming.

That is, if it is even necessary So far we have noticed pretty much no difference between old and new balls.

[Nimmy]

is there a new kind of balls out or are you talking about the same balls we got with the kit, only brand new from the factory?

since our team is in Israel we can't order more balls and we have only the one we got with kit (and it's starting to desinegrate), we are kinda hoping the few hours at the regionals before the matches will be enough time to fix everything, either that or everyone will miss a lot (except for bots that go for corner goals =)

[Eric Scheuing]

Ours aren't even that worn down yet D:

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Nimmy

we are kinda hoping the few hours at the regionals before the matches will be enough time to fix everything

the entire first day should be the practice matches, so you'll have an entire day to work out problems! good luck!