1351 Launches a Trackball

[Sam N.]

This is the 2nd prototype that we built so far. There are crappy OSH springs supplying the launch force - but it consistently does about 6.5 feet from the ground.

We will probably change out the springs. We did need a mentor to hold it down though. http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?video_id=nSRqo1DZNkY&rel=1&eurl=&iurl=http%3 A//img.youtube.com/vi/nSRqo1DZNkY/default.jpg&t=OEgsToPDskKO6YNGkeoNiJ6_QP9Cc9fT

Needs some fine-tuning. Integration will be a challenge.

Sam N.

[Ian Curtis]

Sweet deal that you're launching!

Have you tested it on an overpass mockup to see if it tends to bounce over? It doesn't look to me like you're getting enough horizontal motion to miss the bar in it's entirety.

[Sam N.]

Yeah,

We need a pie pan or something ot hold the ball - it's slipping off of the back of the metal assembly when it fires.

[1619Aaron]

Looks awesome! Is that enough vertical height?

[Borgel]

We are aiming for probably 8 feet total height from the ground, this nabs us 6.5 of those. As Sam mentioned, we are going to change those springs out to something beefier (ordering them tomorrow). Its giving a bit too much horizontal motion, so if we can angle it a bit better and throw more toward vertical, we could probably snatch a few more inches. Eh, I guess we'll try it tomorrow.

On the note of holding the ball, one of our members managed to talk to someone at a DirecTV (I think) store and nab us an old satellite dish (I thought he was joking until he walked in with it ). Its a bit heavy, but for prototyping its probably fine.

If it changes, Ill post the goodness.

[Uberbots]

We have a mechanism that was able to launch it ~10 feet into the air... well that is before the forces caused some x-wing and aluminum bars to shear and contort beyond usability.

[windell747]

Hey guys, I know that this might be a little less on the serious note, but here is a robot that is launching bowling balls!

http://www.manapotions.com/robopult.html

Enjoy!
Windell
#2477

[Doug Leppard]

What happened to the trackball video? Love to see it.

[feliks_rosenber]

I wanted to watch the video clip but it says
"Video no longer available"
If you could fix the problem that would be awesome!

[Ryan Dognaux]

If you go to the actual Youtube page it works fine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSRqo1DZNkY

[Borgel]

Thats the right link, thanks for extracting it!

[Japper]

How the heck are you guys launching the track ball that high?

Is it done with torsion springs or pneumatics?

If it is pnemautics, are you pre-charging the cylinders?

Definitely impressive!

[Capt. Quirk]

Does the flag pole interfere with the trackball when it's launched?

[Borgel]

Asking for trade secrets are we? We tried using pneumatics, but couldnt nearly get enough height out of them (they couldn't release the air that was used to retract them fast enough). We tried precharging them and cutting a rope to release them, which helped, but it still wasnt nearly enough. I think our single best test with pure pneumatics yeilded maybe 4 feet vertically. This model uses extension springs.

We havent nearly planned ahead well enough to get a flagpole on the robot. This is just a mostly plywood model we threw together to test the concept. The camera is a few feet away, but the rig is just sitting on the ground (no chassis, its still being machined).

[danshaffer]

you'll want to look at the flag rule asap, because it's one of the most restricting rules we've seen in a long while. also, there are at least two pretty straightforward solutions... think about it...