Bouncing TrackBalls

[Mike Schreiber]

We dropped hours off the schools stairwell (approx 20 ft) for fun, it easily bounced back 3/4 of the way up, although the ceiling got in the way because there isn't much room to drop things between the stairs and the wall...

[GMKlenklen]

the ball in my video was filled completely by hand... so it's under 10 lbs in weight. I don't know if they'll fill them until they get to 10 lbs, I just went for 40". I *tried* to weigh it using a kitchen scale... i uh... think it was ~7.5 lbs... but it was hard to balance!

[Mrtrom]

The Trackballs bounce a nice distance, but we tested it on a stone floor so that could cause different results, it also depends on how high and fast the track ball is going

[Devon27]

we took ours to the stair well in our school, we dropped it from many different heights (and put carpet down to replicate a field) at and above 6 1/2 feet. 6 1/2 ft. bounced back~3 1/2 ft, 8ft. bounced back~4 1/2 ft, from the top of the stairwell, it hit the ceiling but at least 10-12 ft

[GBilletdeaux930]

So from the numbers that have been given...we can kind of conclude that it bounces about 55% of the way back up when dropped straight down i believe... so i think i can **officialy** conclude that this is going to be...exciting? lol

y'all got any ideas on how to speed up the bouncing process? like at all, even the slightest bit...because at this rate if u dont stop it...its gonna be bouncin off walls like crazy

[Alan Anderson]

We did an informal "bounce test" of a trackball this evening. We tossed it over the overpass and watched it. Well before it would have hit the alliance station wall, it had stopped bouncing enough to be approached safely, and it seemed easily controllable.

[Enigma's puzzle]

Cheif Delphi said it has coefficient of restitution of about .7
my calculations say that after six bounces from original dropping point of 7 ft 8 in center of gravity of the ball over the overpass it will still be bouncing at 10 inches

[Seraph117]

its also not a bad idea in this instance to make your robot armored, like a small tank, just not as heavy, but very compactly built