Kicker Help?

[jamie_1930]

Originally Posted by infocus

We've designed a mechanism using the bungee cords that can produce 75lbs of force at the end of our kicker. But we fail to move the ball over one bump. Is 75 lbs enough force? Or is it possible that there is something fundamentally wrong with our kicker design. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

The first thing I would look at changing would be what is hitting the ball. We are still optimizing this, but 30-50 degrees (from vertical) is the range we have determined to be the best so far for the angled plate we have attached to our leg. Also some people aren't thinking realistically about how hard or far you need to hit the ball. Remember your never going to be 18ft away from the bump because in the far zones there is only 17.5ft from wall to bump and 17ft in the middle, plus your robots dimensions will take up some of that space, so plan that the max, if your right up against the wall would be around 15 to 14ft, depending on your robot's dimensions. Also your not going to be right up against the wall so make sure you try seeing if you can just change the distance your firing from.