8-Ball Catapults Intake Mechanism (How does it work?)

VEX IQ General Discussion IQ Technical Discussion
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Hello Vex Forums Community, recently I’ve been watching some videos on the new 8-12 ball catapults that have been teased for hype before Worlds, but I’m curious on how some of the mechanisms that compose the intakes of these robots work. For example in this video by Beyond The Sea (VEX IQ Pitching In （百发百中）——纪念版2 - YouTube), we can these two panels that go up and down to blow the roll of the balls from entering the catapult when firing. We can see that they are connected by rubber bands that stretch out and shrink down to move these two panels. I was curious how this would be possible with a mechanism, or if these two panels were potentially linked to the catapult motor itself. I’m not sure if anyone knows the answer to this question, but I couldn’t see figure out how this mechanism may work without a motor attached to it directly. In a different design and video (Bryan Chen) (VEX IQ 2021-2022 PitchinG IN, save 8 balls, high hanging catapult - YouTube) we can see a mechanism hook up with a rubber band and gear setup. This seems to flip the balls up making it so that we can hold up to 8 balls in the catapult. How do these catapults work? What is the name of this mechanism if there is one? I’m curious about the specifics of how it works.

Thanks,
10XtotheC

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The catapult mechanism that these two teams are using are called T bar mech. How it works is a Gear is connected to standoffs and the standoffs push along a t bar that pushes the catapult down. If you need pictures are anything just message me in dms. I have also built a robot just like Beyond The Sea but for just reasons I am not allowed to post it anywhere.

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I believe he is asking specifically about the indexers that stop the ball from rolling.

I watched the video closely, and it seems the catapult arm itself pushes those two beams down. Here’s a drawing of it from the front:

IMG_20220501_133841
IMG_20220501_133841943×470 81.5 KB

I don’t really know how to explain it any better. The beams are on hinges and rubber bands are pulling them out of the way and the catapult arm, in going down, hits them and pulls them up and they block the balls from rolling down.

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A little bit late but here’s a video from Hai Lab explaining how his mechanism works

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