I’ve seen several people post that they were building all sorts of designs. However, the prevalent design, flywheels, are rather inconsistent.
My question is, regardless of power or efficiency, what is the most accurate ball-launcher?
It really depends on how it is built. With the flywheel, it can be made more accurate by creating a barrel for the ball to travel through before it leaves the robot. For a catapult style mechanism, I think it might be easier to have more consistency, but it is generally a more complex design and build. Also, a catapult would make it tougher to vary the distance your shot travels as you approach the goal.
Ours has become very consistent. As in hitting the same spot 20+ times in a row. but this is our hand fed launcher.
What about catapults?
Slow, annoying to load, requires components that are prone to breaking, and you can’t easily vary the power on a shot.
Catapults are a non-starter of an idea, as far as I’m concerned.
Catapults pose additional challenges, as you would have to build a mechanism to adjust your firing angle depending on where you are on the field.
Yes, but are they consistently accurate?
Edit: Never mind, I should read the answers before I respond. Sorry.
You can regulate the flywheel velocity fairly accurately with PID velocity loop. You are not just limited to sending 127 to flywheel motors every time you press a button and worry that battery voltage affects range; there is a lot more that can be done with programming.