Ball Launcher Prototyping

Earlier today, RAWC students and mentors brainstormed ideas while at the high school, coming up with a few mechanisms to launch a soccer ball.  A few of those ideas were actually plausable(we went forward with one).  We built a launcher frame that takes into account the size restrictions placed on teams(Ball can only be 3″ inside the ‘bot, Launcher mechanism can only protrude 2″, Ball must stay in contact with the floor).

Here’s a photo of the launcher.

Here’s the release mechanism:

Here are a few videos:

Long Range (Corner to Corner) Preset Test. This test was setup having the launcher’s frame(the size of the 2009 base) touching the wall of an alliance station. The frame was also pointed toward the opposite corner(diagonally). After launching the soccer ball using the long range setting, the ball landed approximately 2 feet away from the opposing alliance’s home zone.

(There was a video here that has sadly been lost in the archives.)

Mid Range (Corner to Corner) Preset. This test was setup having the launcher’s frame(the size of the 2009 base) touching the wall of an alliance station. The frame was also pointed toward the opposite corner(diagonally). After launching the soccer ball using the mid-range setting, the ball landed close to the midfield divider.

(There was a video here that has sadly been lost in the archives.)

Ramp Contact Testing. This test was configured in a way that a KOP tote was placed in varying distances from the front of the soccer ball. We tested the following scenarios: Tote 4FT from ball(long range), Tote 4FT from ball(mid range), Tote 2FT from ball(long range). During our testing, we determined that the ball does not come close to touching the tote in all of the configurations. We performed one additional test that was not documented; the tote was placed 2FT from the ball and the launcher was set into the mid range position. The ball clearly comes in contact with the tote, altering the trajectory of the object.

(There was a video here that has sadly been lost in the archives.)

Additional ramp contact testing. These videos include a plane that is angled to a 45 degree slope. In addition, the ball is in contact with the inclined plane. This test was to demonstrate the launcher’s capability to launch a soccer ball accurately in the case that it was touching the ramp.

(There was a video here that has sadly been lost in the archives.)

Angled ramp contact testing. This test is to demonstrate the effects of using our launcher while being offset from the ramp.

(There was a video here that has sadly been lost in the archives.)