Update #6

[Mr. Freeman]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Norris

Well I wouldn't want to be he first team to launch a track ball into another teams pit...

I'm reminded of 2006 with the poof balls. I was in the pit working on something when my team decided to power on the bot to begin testing the auton code. (I don't remember what we were looking for at the time to be honest). Anyway, the way our code worked was that it would run the tracks to drive out and then shoot the balls in an arc (kind of like dead-reckoning + spray the balls everywhere in an attempt to hit at least one in).

Well, it turns on and the tracks go (it's on blocks so it doesn't actually go anywhere), it was about then that I realized that there were poof balls in the robot. I make this mad dash/dive across the pit screaming "TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF IT'S GONNA..." *poof*. I manage to stop the second one from firing, but the first one is already gone. It's making this nice arc across the pit area and my entire team is yelling "HEADS UP/WATCH OUT/OHMYGODWHAT'SITGONNAHIT?!?!". I seriously thought we had probably destroyed something.

The good news is that the team's pit that we hit was one of those teams that likes to bring in those camping-shelter things that acts kind of like a roof with no walls. They attached cloths to the top and let them drape down to act as walls. This stopped the ball perfectly. No injuries or damage. (We sent someone over to make sure)

Needless to say, we double checked that there were no poof balls loaded when we tested it from then on. I can't even imagine what would happen if something like a trackball came flying into a pit.