Soccer Ball Sold Out

[JonellGregor]

Well why not design a robot that can work with many different balls. As the competition goes on the balls will get worn just as the balls did last year. If you design your robot to only be able to handle the DTI ball when it is in perfect condition then you will be disappointed when you cannot handle the ball in competition. A size 5 soccer ball is a size 5 soccer ball. My team hasn’t even thought about buying the official balls. We have many different kinds of size 5 balls brought in by members on the team and they work fine.

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by Jonell:)

Well why not design a robot that can work with many different balls. .... A size 5 soccer ball is a size 5 soccer ball. My team hasn’t even thought about buying the official balls. We have many different kinds of size 5 balls brought in by members on the team and they work fine.

You're probably right. In the big picture there are probably bigger issues than the exact ball. But I suspect the balls they are using at the world cup have slightly different properties than those we use in gym class.

You can see postings here from experienced soccer players that they can feel a difference between different balls when they play with them. (While I'm not an experienced soccer player, I know there are huge differences between different brands of basketballs.)

When I was speaking with a DTI rep, they mentioned that the surface finish of their balls was different than something you might get "off the shelf".

So far we've had good luck coming up with generic concepts for ball manipulation using a generic soccer ball. Given the time and money that we're putting in to this project, however, it would make sense to spend a few bucks and double check our assumptions about whether or not a DTI ball makes a difference.

I know the game manual says it doesn't matter what kind of size 5 soccer ball we use... but the game manual also spec'ed a coefficient of friction for the regolith last year that was, while theoretically correct, not reflected in actual practice. Yeah, we checked that out, too... although several other teams beat us to it. In the end, it wasn't that big of a deal... but it was a detail that needed checking.

So you'll understand, I hope, why "probably" right isn't good enough for many teams. We just want to be thorough.

Jason