A BeachBot tribute to the TechnoKats's Katapult

Our prototype robot this year reminded us of the TechnoKat’s 2006 robot “Katapult”. Maybe all those parts we’ve ordered from AndyMark have had some influence…

Our programmers started early working with the prototype, already making it score autonomously.

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0o-yFnE8m8

Hopefully you guys get better results then we did :o.

Hmm, some quick research on that bot brings up some pretty ingenious design possibilities for this year’s game. What are the Beachbots up to?

I forgot the video, I edited the original post to include it.

So kudos to whomever picked Kokomo by the beach boys. It does make the perfect theme song for your bot.

AWESOME!

BotBash BOB Pitzer
4FX Design

Well, the place refered to in the song is a little warmer then Kokomo, Indiana :wink:

Yeah. From what I understand it is not sunny and 82F in Indiana today.

I think you’ll need to add some bumpers to that reloading mechanism to make it legal for competition. Looking good. :slight_smile:

Great start, BeachBot buddies! Can’t wait to see the rest of the package…

Good job on a very impressive autonomous capability.

I was surprised at how many balls bounced off of the trailer instead of scoring, though.

I’m sure you’ll have it working perfectly before ship!

In '06, I thought pneumatic shooters and loaders into shooters were just too slow.
The fact that you folks are using it this year, makes me wonder if you folks value accuracy over what any shooter that has rapid fire will be able to do, and whether your final design will be much more faster and/or accurate than a typical shooter.
Cant wait to see the final product!

After having been with Team 1523 in 2006, I have a great fondness for catapults. (For you newer FIRSTer’s, look here to see why.)

Great job, especially with your programming. Also, did I detect some uniquely colored orbit ball? Nice!

You did. 330 spent a while making a pile of GUS balls. Naturally, they chose blue and yellow. I think their total of competition balls is around 6, in various stages of (dis)repair.

As for the reloading mechanism, if he is who I think he is, he’ll be on the team as soon as he can. That won’t be for a few years, though. (Younger sibling and all that.)

We have plenty of more ideas to make it better :slight_smile:

The big difference between this year and '06 is that some balls are worth more then others.

That’s very cool!

There are solutions to such problems.

Ok guys, I’m going to stop by the store and load up on popcorn and diet coke tonight so that I’m good for watching the show. This is thread is fun.