Basic Shooter Introduction
Welcome to Stage 2! This section covers FRC mechanism design, emphasizing CAD skills, best practices, and key engineering concepts. Each project guide explains design decisions and criteria, promoting independent CAD work with less step-by-step instruction.
Shooter Mechanisms
Section titled “Shooter Mechanisms”Shooters are used in FRC games when you need to score in high places but are not allowed to physically reach up to the scoring position. A flywheel is the most common method of scoring as illustrated below.
While most shooting games involve launching a ball, the fundamentals between ball shooters and shooters for non-spherical objects (discs or rings) remain roughly the same.
Flywheel Shooters
Section titled “Flywheel Shooters”The most common way to launch game pieces is with flywheel shooters. Other methods, such as catapults or punchers, tend be more challenging to execute with the required accuracy/fire rate and rely on different concepts than flywheel shooters.
This video is a good slow-motion look at how a ball gets propelled out of a shooter.
Other mechanism examples and deep dives for shooters can be found on the ball shooters page. The design handbook page will have a deeper dive when the shooter design page is completed.