I agree, that robot with a lift and that fire rate would be unbeatable.
Agreed! The turret allows you to aim better, the fire rate (assuming decent accuracy) is absurd, the intake is reasonably good, and if you guys added a lift… Just an idea: I don’t know how many motors the turret uses, but it might be possible to elevate with a 1 motor ramp and use 4 motors on the flywheel, 4 on the drive, 1 on the intake, 1 on the chain, and 1 on the turret. Or you could gear the intake to the chain and get an extra motor for the turret or the lift. Either way, its really an exceptional robot.
It seems from the video that the robot uses 6 motors on the flywheel, 4 on the drive, 1 on the intake, and 1 on the turn table.
So unfortunately, if that is in fact the case, it leaves no room or motors for lifting. I wonder if anyone has come up with a passing (Not using any motors or pneumatics.) low lift ramp deployment mechanism.
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There is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFixJ_KgyU4&feature=youtu.be
With 6 motors on the flywheel, I’m sure they could probably do something like this.
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Heres a couple of my cents 
Its interesting this year that transmissions might actually play a major part in some competition robots. Whether allowing a robot to temporarily repurpose some of its mechanisms for science (or other mechanisms). It seems transmissions could be really important to build a string all-rounder robot. 12 motors just can’t be enough 
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I completely agree. One of the main roles that I see the transmission playing in this competition in the future is changing gear ratios for the flywheel. My team built a version of our transmission that puzzler brought up in his post that alters the gear ratio of a single output shaft based on the direction that the motor is turning. This could be key in having the best close range shooter that can launch driver loads from the starting tile as well. It could also decrease the flywheel start up time similarly to the way a car accelerates.
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A mechanical ramp up sounds interesting, i’m wondering whether it is actually practical and whether it will offer and advantages in spin up time over a software solution… I mean, at the very least you will look beast with your 2-3 speed flywheel gearbox
I had a similar idea with a transmission. I was considering using the wheel motors to power my flywheel/catapult during driver loads shooting then using a transmission to change to the shooting mechanism motors (but be able to drive). In the case of a flywheel, it might actually be practical (as you say) to step down the gear ratio to get faster mid court shots while driving around…
Anyway, your teams planetary (I think thats what its called :p) transmission is really cool! I can see a LOT of uses for it because it is so easy to implement (unlike having large gear arrays and pneumatic solenoids everywhere). You can definitely expect to see lifts (and flywheels) powered of off the concept of your guys transmission
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Emphasis is mine.
Didn’t you build the ratchet transmission in the video I posted?
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Yes, I was trying to say the transmission that you brought up but definitely miss worded orders it, I should probably edit that.
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Yes. We are currently developing autonomous aiming code. Hopefully it will be in a useable beta stage by our tournament this weekend.
We do have ideas for elevation. We’ve just sort of assumed we would build a ramp since the initial game reveal, and haven’t really changed our minds. Surprisingly, we discovered space isn’t an issue for us. Power for a release is. It will require us to get creative with a release mechanism that doesn’t rely on pneumatics or motors to actuate.
By popular demand, I will try to make a video on our launcher this week. Thanks for the kind words everyone! Stay tuned!
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Maybe a ramp that deploys when you alliance partner presses on a release mechanism would be a good idea. It wouldn’t have to use any motors or pneumatics. Just don’t make it to easily accessible, or it might deploy in the middle of a match when someone rams you.
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I am not sure how feasible a manual release mechanism is because if I were facing a robot with a release mechanism in the elimination rounds, I wouldn’t even try to shoot balls. I would just go for the release mechanism to disqualify them.
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These actions would be illegal, as they are made in the effort to make another robot break the rules.
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That’s true, I forgot about that rule.
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Yes this is definitely one thought we had.
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Im interested to see if you will have any success with this. Especially since your one of the only teams using a movable turret (that I know of).
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We are quite interested as well. Today is a big coding day, so we should know if there is enough consistency to get something working by the end of today.
I will be sure to keep this thread updated! Check back often for updates!
(And subscribe on YouTube if you haven’t already 
)
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Hello everyone!
Today we had our first day of competition testing. It was a refinement process all day, and we weren’t operating smoothly till eliminations. In drivers skills, we scored 173 points. There’s still a lot to do, but it’s a start. We also uploaded our first match video of the year HERE.
Thanks for all the continued support! Feel free to ask any questions you might have on this thread or in the comments of the match video. Good luck to all this season!
Regards,
Luke Rohler
Team Coach
323Z Aftershock
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Wow!
It’s so awesome that the launcher stays constantly aimed toward the net, no matter where in the court the robot is. Does it automatically adjust for distance, or is that manual?
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