My comments on shooters

[ChuckDickerson]

There seems to be a lot of discussion going on about the safety issues of an errant trackball being shot out of the field. I am more concerned about the damage flying trackballs will cause on the field. Yes, we are supposed to build our machines to “take a licking and keep on ticking” but given the weight constraints we are given, many parts on many robots are not exactly bulletproof. I predict that flying 8 lb trackballs will do some substantial damage to many robots this year and GP or not, feelings are going to get hurt and tempers are going to flare. Think about those arms/lifts/etc up there 10 feet in the air getting hammered by a flying 8 lb 40” ball. I foresee some broken arms/lifts and totally tipped over bots from flying trackballs. I can just imagine the reaction the first time a team has their arm/lift/etc. way up in the air and their alliance PARTNER fires their super-duper trackball trebuchet and nocks over their arm/lift/etc. partner and/or destroys their arm/lift/etc and blocks the whole lane thus incurring a pile of penalties for damage, impeding, etc. and then not only loosing the match but ruining their alliance partners robot. Don’t get me wrong, I love the shooter designs I am seeing, I just wish FIRST had put some sort of limit on the shooter velocity as in 2006.