My team was brainstorming ideas for our robot’s role in the game, and one thing we thought of was a defensive robot that used an air cannon or fan to knock balls off their trajectory.
This seems like a logical thing to do, since when you’re playing defense you will be shorter than the opponent that is scoring.
I could not find anything in the rules that would outlaw this besides
G13, which says that “Basketballs may not be intentionally placed out of bounds,” and under
Robot 4.1.8 Motors and Actuators which states that “The only motors and actuators permitted on 2012 FRC Robots include: (K.) drive motors or fans that are part of a speed controller or COTS computing device.”
Although, R71 says that “For the purposes of the FRC, the following devices are not considered pneumatic devices and are not subject to pneumatic rules (though they must satisfy all other rules): a device that creates a vacuum,…”, so we could potentially use a vacuum to achieve the same purpose.
So, would this be an illegal tactic? Is it within the spirit of the game?
Not necessarily, it could be the last shot of a Red 102 - Blue 103 game, Red is attempting a shot, and its up to the Blue Air Defense bot to save the team!
It’d be ironic if it assisted the shot into the top basket, and tragic.
I giggled at this one. But what our team was thinking about is a big deployable net, much like a ship’s sail, to interfere, which would also collect balls for us to shoot, in addition to our other collection system.
I have my doubts of how effective it would be in an actual match, as the same strategy was brought up in 2006, but it never came to fruition for any team because it just isn’t a practical blocker. But try it out, let us know how (if at all) it works.
I cannot see this being ruled as illegal or not in the spirit of FIRST.
What i CAN see is this not working, at all. Please, prove me wrong, i’d love to see a robot like this on the field.
Not that I know of because as I said, no teams attempted it in competition. There was a similar thread on Delphi back then, but for most it never made it past the concept stage, and the teams who prototyped it found it wasn’t working as well as they wanted.
Remember, the balls are going to be traveling at a relatively fast rate of speed. In order to change their momentum, it will take a lot of work. If you think of physics W = f * d, you’ll need a considerable force (f) for such a short distance (d) window. If anyone wants to pursue this, most certainly don’t let me stop you. However I would suggest that no one put all their eggs in this basket, as it may not work out as well as you’d hope. Good luck!
