Physics Work

[Royoto]

Hey guys! I'm working on some of the physics my team is trying to use to help with our robots design and seem to have gotten a bit stuck with the work (I've never taken a physics course, I'm just going off of websites).

I was tasked with creating an algorithm that would determine the force needed to be exerted on the game ball in order to have it reach the high goal with no information feedback other than the height from the floor to middle of the goal and the robots distance from the wall (given from ultrasonic senor). Using a test variable of a 25 foot distance from the wall, I was able to determine that I would need a launch angle of 34.019 degrees and an initial velocity of 12.690 m/s in order to reach the goal at the peak of its trajectory. I was also able to find the mass of the ball as being 1.248 kg based on the Andymark product description.

Now I got stuck when trying to find the force of the ball, specifically in finding the initial acceleration and therefore force needed to give the initial acceleration and velocity.

As of now I have the following information:

• Initial Velocity: 12.690 m/s
• Angle of Launch: 34.019 degrees
• max height: 2.571 m (this is the distance from the middle of the high goal to the floor)
• Range: 15.24 m
• Mass: 1.248 kg
• Time of Flight (?): 1.449 s (I feel like this is exceptionally wrong)

I need to find this information to give to my manipulators team:

• The upwards acceleration of the ball as it ascends towards the peak of trajectory.
• The force needed in order to give the ball its needed acceleration and velocity.

If anyone out there could help with my problem that would be fantastic! Thanks

[Bob Steele]

You are going to have to find the impulse and not just the force.
Impulse is Force * time.

A small force over a long time could give the same impulse as a large force for a short time.

Think about it as the force being applied to the ball over a certain time.
If you can maintain contact with the ball you accelerate the ball for a longer time (The Force is applied over a greater distance (time))

This is equal to the total change in momentum.

If you want to learn more ... you can find a physics book and read the chapter on linear momentum for a start.

More things are happening, of course, but this is a good place to start.