We’ve been discussing on our team the possible methods for keeping game pieces out of our shooter until it’s time to launch them. This is useful for autonomous mode when you probably will save time by not spinning up your shooter repeatedly between pieces.
The first approach involves something we are familiar with which is a beam break sensor in the feeder zone that stops the feeder when the beam is broken through software logic. The only issue I feel with this approach is that we have previously had issues with these sensors failing at solder joints on tiny wires on breakout boards. Which does mean we have options including a redundant sensor pair or finding a way to wire these sensors without and soldering these small wires.
I wanted to ask if anyone had solved this problem with a mechanical shooter stop and release mechanism that offer a way of holding back a piece until you’re ready to fire it. I’d love to avoid pneumatics as well.