Trackball inflation at regionals?

[Meredith Novak]

Originally Posted by David Brinza

It seems to me that the Trackballs at the San Diego Regional are inflated much more than what we had expected...The driver for Team 16 told me that the Trackballs at the MWR were approximately 42" in diameter and the seams were really stretched taut.

And the other Team 16 operator said, "Wow, did you see how high that one went?" Our practice trackballs were so beat up it was like launching laundry. Did you see them have to slam the ball through the accumulator at MWR? It certainly made our pick-up less efficient. But they managed to do well anyway - I just hope Clayton doesn't try THAT in the Durango! Does your car insurance go up if your kid is a FIRST driver?

Hope you guys do great at San Diego!!!

[sanddrag]

The balls were quite overinflated at San Diego. They were all very tight in their covers. They bounced A LOT. We measured one at 43" diameter. It would not be hard for FIRST to make an apparatus comprised of two sticks a set distance apart (or a single stick a set distance off the floor) to ensure the trackballs are inflated to proper dimension. When the robot is only 28" wide, and the ball is 40" diameter, it makes a BIG difference when the ball is 43". This much of a difference I don't think should be considered part of the game challenge, especially since it would not be hard at all to properly inflate them to a standard dimension.

Many of us design our robots to the (inflation) specifications provided to us. For FIRST to not follow their own specifications is disappointing.

[afi419]

They all look over inflated.