Design Challenge #3: Ball Shooter
This week we’re moving onto a different challenge: ball shooters! These mechanisms have been useful across many games in modern FRC, including 2012, 2014, 2016, 2020, and 2022.
Welcome to 2020! Your team has decided to design a fixed angle hooded shooter to play the game, just like the highly successful team 973!
- Requirements:
- The shooter should be able to score power cells into the high goal from a fixed distance of your choosing.
- Make sure to include fasteners and proper power transmission.
- We highly encourage you to use a main layout sketch with the field elements for practice, even though you don’t need to cad the rest of the robot.
You can find information regarding the game pieces and field elements here.
The year is 2026, and FRC is in shambles. 2025 will be known as the year epa died, as the majority of teams became uncompetitive due to the terrain game known as “Reefscape.” Many teams had forgotten what a WCD is, and spent the build season fruitlessly trying to throw their COTS swerve drives at the sharp jagged field elements of the reef. Seeing the unfolding disaster, FIRST took emergency measures and turned the 2026 game into a generic ball shooter game, with hopes to let teams regain their competitiveness. Your job is to CAD a variable hood ball shooter for this year’s game, fitting the following requirements.
- Requirements:
- Assume the base of your shooter is mounted no higher than 3.5ft from the floor.
- The shooter must be able to shoot from between 3ft and 15ft from the base of the goal.
- Due to the goal’s geometry, balls with too much backspin are likely to roll out. To counter this, your shooter must have some form of backroller(s).
- You should use a calculator to verify the shot angles and speeds that your shooter will operate at. We recommend reca.lc and/or klib.
Game characteristics: The goal geometry can be found in the CAD linked below. The game pieces are 6” rubber kickballs weighing 0.29lbs. Optimal compression is up to your own interpretation. The goal geometry means the ideal way to score is to land the ball right on the lip of the goal while it’s near the top of its arc.
Klib Link (make a copy of the spreadsheet to use)
If you are stuck, or have any questions, feel free to ask in the discord server! Same goes with getting your design looked over!
Good luck!