ball cannon???

[stinkypooman]

Im 100% sure were not the only team that had a debate over this design. Quite frankly at first i thought this idea was pretty dumb... jeez its hard enough for a person to get that ball in, how the heck is a robot gonna do it, espically on that crazy surface with the crazy wheels. But Ive been thinking a little more now, if you position your "ball cannon" higher than the low edge of the trailer and make some kinda of rotating turret stand for it then mabye it could be effecent from distances of 5-15 feet if you chased robots from behind. It would be a programming nigtmare though. I guess we would have to mount the camera so that it can track the colors on the trailer and look at the angle and from there determine the distance. but heck it was our programmer that made up the idea... i mean that doesnt solve the problem of the skidding surface or the lag made form the air time fo the ball...

any takes on this? pros cons?