ball dumpers/throwers types

[wireties]

Our team is discussing the nature of the ball dumping/throwing mechanism and I thought I'd ask you Chief Dephi-ers what you think. The opinions fall into 2 basic camps: 1) dump multiple balls at once using a gravity-feed wide front dumper that allows multiple (2-4) balls to fall out at the same time 2) dump balls serially using a mechanism that forces the balls out quickly (think very slow softball pitcher) and can rotate 180+.

Note that the desired dump rate is "as quick as possible" in both modes.

I think a wide dumper is problematic. You are trying to align a rectangle (the robot) with a circle (the trailer). The point of contact is not an edge but a single tangent point. Any balls dumped left and right of the center of the trailers center point have a smaller chance of getting in the trailer. Plus the surface not only means trouble de/accelerating but also positioning the robot. So I think a directional dumper is important.

Thoughts, discussions, comments?