Calculating optimal angle and velocity

[joey_333]

Our team is planning on building an adjustable shooter hood. In programming, i want to plug in angles and velocities based on how far the robot is from the power port. How do i calculate the best angle and velocities to use?

[mjoy0210]

You can experimentally determine speeds and angles, collect data, and then estimate values using your data using a look up table.

[joey_333]

Ok we’ll try this out and see if it works for us

[GeeTwo]

Agreed. The equations are pretty involved, and involve a lot of input values which are much harder to measure than going the empirical approach mjoy0210 suggests.

If you are using a camera or other device for ranging, you may even just want to develop a single transfer function from your sensor outputs to your appropriate angles and speeds, without even knowing the range in the middle.

I would begin by trying to find the curve of angles and speeds which gives you a trajectory which has a maximum height near the goal height; these are the trajectories you are likely going to want to use to have a fair shot at the 3-pointer while shooting. A camera and a horizontal line on the wall both at the target height should make this test fairly simple. Then, for a number of these combinations, figure out the range or range sensor inputs which nail the goal.

[cmarley]

https://www.desmos.com/calculator/gmeb0n8nm9

this graph may help.

Our plan A (which I don’t agree with) is using a turret with adjustable vertical angle based on vision tracking (which aligns the robot horizontally) and a distance sensor (I think).
Our plan B (which I am proposing (so guess why I like it better )) is adjusting shooting power based on the distance sensor. The turret is kept at a constant angle.

It’s generally not a good idea to vary both velocity and angles.

[zec2]

Trajectory Analysis: How to Choose the Best Shot

I got myself thinking about an interesting problem last week. After a few attempts at it, I think I have something workable that people might find interesting. Pardon the long post and the “stream of consciousness” style write-up. Crux of the Problem For any given shot that you need a robot to take during a launching game, there are an infinite number of trajectories that you can choose from. What is the “best” trajectory? How I Got Here

First Attempt

Given a static target position, for any lau…

You should check out this thread. BordemBeThyName made a trajectory calculator a few months ago that’s really good. It can tell you optimal speed, angle, and your chances of making the shot for a given distance, precision, and max launch speed.

As others have said, however, the most accurate way to pin down the values you need for given distances is to do lots of testing and empirical data collection. The trajectory calculator should give you a good starting point though, especially if you combine it with the hooded flywheel calculator that dydx made (Flywheel Calculator).