19-03-2010 22:16

Alex Dinsmoor

Re: pic: Soccor balls stuck on ball return

It turned out (from what I saw) that a ball was ripped, and so got caught in the ball return. Our human player tried pushing the balls as fast as he could down the chute, but nothing worked.

We ended out replaying the match.


And of course hanging again (as you can see )

19-03-2010 22:16

Bill_B

Re: pic: Soccor balls stuck on ball return

Are they stuck because the hanging 'bot has distorted the tower's geometry?

19-03-2010 22:22

Joe Ross

Re: pic: Soccor balls stuck on ball return

Isn't this covered by <G18>?

19-03-2010 22:22

Alex Dinsmoor

Re: pic: Soccor balls stuck on ball return

No, they were stuck long before we hung. It was because one of the robots tore off a piece of the ball and it got snagged in the chute.

As noted above, they were damaged pre-ball return

19-03-2010 22:44

Wildcat

Re: pic: Soccor balls stuck on ball return

really? i heard on the webcast that it was cause some teams had some duct tape type of substance on their robot that rubbed off on the ball causing them to get stuck. oh btw good thing there was a replay, i was afk for the original XD

19-03-2010 22:50

Alex Dinsmoor

Re: pic: Soccor balls stuck on ball return

Well that may have also been a cause, but I saw a triangular piece of the ball casing raised away from the ball when the match ended. The ref held it up, and that's what I saw. It may have been duct tape though. I was 30 ft away taking pictures.

And the first match was more exciting (7-4 instead of 5-1)

19-03-2010 23:07

The Cyborg

Re: pic: Soccor balls stuck on ball return

It's amazing how just a little bit of tape or ripped ball can cause a jam like that, especially when a couple of more balls fail to unjam it. Is this the only case of something like this happening?

20-03-2010 07:17

GaryVoshol

Re: pic: Soccor balls stuck on ball return

There were two cases of this at Cass.

One was user-induced when a robot's hanger mechanism stopped a ball from coming off the return (and generated penalties).

The other was caused when a faster-moving ball caught up with a slower one on the return, and the friction between the two ball surfaces caused them to slow down even further. The first ball dropped into the gap between the end of the return and the tower crossbar. <G18> was applied.

20-03-2010 09:08

Travis Hoffman

Re: pic: Soccor balls stuck on ball return

Someone should lash some 2006 pokey pokey sticks together and create the most entertaining volunteer position we've had since....the 2006 pokey pokey guy.

20-03-2010 22:05

The Cyborg

Re: pic: Soccor balls stuck on ball return

Well, I found out today what the case was.
Apparently one of the teams had some sticky stuff on their gripper/kicker mechanism that managed to adhere to the ball, which caused the ball to slow down on the way down the ramp and get stuck in the space in between the ramp and the hanging pole on the tower (since the ball didn't have enough velocity to just simply bounce down). GooGone did the trick of getting rid of the sticky stuff on the ball .

20-03-2010 22:24

nikeairmancurry

Re: pic: Soccor balls stuck on ball return

This is correct.. I was working on the field and many teams were using duck tape on the front of there robots. We ended up rotating out 8 balls off the field, to help prevent this. Also, every team, that had something close to a sticky substance, was checked out to see if it was going to become an issue.

20-03-2010 23:14

The Cyborg

Re: pic: Soccor balls stuck on ball return

I also think that the gaffing tape used to line the field might be leaving some residue on the balls, so this issue can't be completely avoidable. It's all a matter of checking for anything obstructive on the balls before the match. I encourage every team and volunteer to double check for things like this before the match, and notify someone before any problems arise. Otherwise we will need to gather up some 2006 pokey pokey sticks as Travis Hoffman mentioned earlier

21-03-2010 17:12

DonRotolo

Re: pic: Soccor balls stuck on ball return

Gee, that seems like a kinda hokey solution.

That's what it's all about.