Shooter Mechanism
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- Akhila and Laura worked again on the shooter mechanism. Last week, it was revealed that they could not use a motor without a gear box, which is what had been in use for weeks prior. They tried this week to use the same idea, but with a gear box, and it was clear the mechanism would not work. They discussed new ideas, and started prototyping one of them.
- One of the alternate ideas was a conveyor we had worked on for the first two weeks. This design still has lots of kinks that have to be worked out, but it is a possibility. A faster lift might be better, though.
- Another idea is to use the elastic potential energy of surgical tubing or a spring to "whack" the balls up the tube. As Gary says, "When in doubt; whack it!"
- After discussing the implementation of the "whacking" model, a new idea was purposed. We could attach a spring to a wheel, which, as it spun, would build up tension in the spring. When the spring continued past the bottom of the wheel, the elastic potential energy would cause the wheel to spin faster, giving us a way to launch the ball.
- This idea is basically an elegant "whacker", so we decided to start by prototyping a "whacker", to see if we could realistically gain enough elastic potential energy to launch the ball 48". We began the prototyping by dismantling the frame used for the shooter, and adapting it for the "whacker". a few of the screws were stripped in the frame, so it took a little longer than expected.
- Next meeting, we should be able to finish up the frame, and test a very simple whacker.
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