Elevated Catapult - January 02, 2024
Define Problem
When we were designing our new robot, we needed a catapult to launch the tri-balls at a high rate of speed not only that but be able to avoid robots with blockers. This would allow us to match load and flood the zone, scoring a large amount of points in the beginning or endgame. It could potentially turn the tides of the match in our favor not just because of the tri-balls but also because we can avoid robots that try to stop us from shooting. Additionally, we can set the tri-balls into the catapult to out-take them into the goal. This would prevent the other team from taking the tri-ball from us if we had it in our robot.
We need to choose a catapult that can elevate to avoid robots with blockers and fire at a high rate.
Generate Concepts
In a previous entry about our rebuild, we already generated the concepts for our catapult here is a summary of the section. We can make a catapult in one of three ways: the regular catapult, slapper, or kicker. The original catapult design works like a real one, where the tri-balls sit in a box or pocket and the catapult builds tension till it launches, flinging them across the field. The slapper hits the tri-balls from the side, which only contacts for a second and has a more predictable grouping. A kicker is similar to a slapper, but it hits from the underside and causes the tri-balls to follow a higher arc and make predictable grouping patterns. There are fixed and elevated catapults, but fixed catapults often face blocks that interfere with match loading, which is why elevated blockers are becoming more common.
After some deliberation we decided that we would use a kicker as our form of launching tri-balls this would also be very easy to make it elevate.
Summary
We truly believe that an elevated catapult can change the score of a match as well as use our elevated catapult to block other match loaders. it would improve the beginning and endgame strategy as well.
Entry Signatures -
Ayla Clark
Caleb Carlson
Tucker Nielson
Thomas Reid