What ways has everybody thought of for chucking these things?! The medieval method for throwing boulders is obviously a catapult. Given that you can only control one boulder at a time this method could be viable.
From the prototypes we (The GreenHorns) have done I can say that a wheeled shooter is incredibly effective (so far). We have scuffed up our boulder pretty badly though. Currently we have mini cims in a versaplanetary gearbox at a 1:1 ratio direct driving some 4" high grip wheels from AndyMark. We’ve found that 3"-4" of compression is getting us the type of launch we want. I’d tell you how far we’re launching it, but it keeps hitting the ceiling/walls in our shop (it launches far).
Also, how far do you think a high goal scoring robot should be able to launch a ball? Most boulders will probably be scored from right underneath the tower… is a launcher even necessary?!
I am curious how a wheeled shooter would change if the skin of the boulder had a hole in it. From looking at ours yesterday, it seems that how quickly the boulders compress is limited by the small hole that vents air out of the side. If a hole was ripped into the skin during game play, it could cause the boulder to compress differently and therefore shoot differently.
I measured it in CAD and from the floor in the far corner of the courtyard(By the low bar defense) to the top of the high goal is 21 feet(through the air, not distance to the base of the tower), I doubt anybody would want to shoot from the farthest point so I measured from the line in the middle of the courtyard to the high goal and that was just over 10 feet.(again through the air) It is 14 feet from the defenses to the tower. the high goal is 7 feet 1 inch off the floor. So a robot that can shoot 15 feet should be totally fine.
Yeah, it definitely would. I used to play with these things for like dodge-ball and stuff back in elementary school. It would change weight, compression rate, contact points, etc. A lot of the same stuff that was dealt with in the year 2012, Rebound Rumble. The balls in 2012 were very inconsistent with densities, but the were all higher density foams than these balls. I think these will have more of an issue with being beat up this year, but it’ll be interesting to see how manipulators handle them. Just wish they were a bit cheaper than 35 dollars a pop.
Back to your point, my main point is also, there is a lot more to shooting than compression, but that’s what testing is for.
Well people will probably want to shoot the 21 foot shot, maybe even a little further, depending on where the boulder sits in their shooter. If their bumper is in the outer works plane, they can’t be touched. Rendering bot-bot defense useless is super important.
Exactly my thinking on the matter. As with any year, reducing cycle time is critical. Especially in a game where it’s a race to eight game pieces. The best places to score (as with pretty much every year) are in safe zones, and in park-and-shoot locations. This game has both options and the good teams will be able to exploit both options I believe. Thus meaning they’ll need a variable range shooter accurate up to ~20 feet (thanks for doing that math!)
As for tears affecting compression, obviously big/noticeable tears will affect it, but at what point will those balls be removed from the field? At $35 a pop I think they’ll try to get the most out of them as possible… The GreenHorns ball has some small holes/tears in it from all the prototyping we’ve done so far, I’ll report back if they significantly affect our shot.
I think that launching boulders will be similar to 2014, a lot of teams shoot from different spots, and some teams will shoot from right up against the tower. It seems like shooting from against the tower is the safest bet. Just like in 2014, if a layup bot could get up against the low goal, they would score in the high goal. All they have to do is drive a little further, and with the three dividers on the base of the tower, it will be pretty hard to defend against them if they’re fast.