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1678's Rapid React Shooter

Citrus Shooter
Integrated hooded shooter and indexer for simplicity. This design is optimized to shoot large balls as accurately and consistently as possible.

CAD Document

Behind the Design

Hooded ball shooters all follow the same fundamental design principles, in an effort to produce the most consistent and accurate shots possible. These can be broken down to the following ideas:

  • Maximize contact time with the game piece you are shooting. This benefits shot consistency as it gives the gamepiece more time to match the speed of the flywheels.
  • Ensure your shooter can aim with adequate precision.
  • Ensure your flywheels have enough mass to hold a consistent speed throughout the shot.
  • In some cases, spin can be beneficial.

Learn more about the 2022 game: Rapid React Game Reveal
1678 Backrollers
 Hooded shooters in 2022 featured backrollers for one main purpose: Controlling backspin. A unique aspect of the 2022 game was the high goal that robots were required to shoot into. The geometry of the goal led many teams to find that their shots bounced out with high backspin. As a remedy, teams added backrollers to their shooters that were geared to spin in the opposite direction as the main flywheel. This reduced backspin on the balls to a manageable amount, but in some cases left just a little bit. This is due to the aerodynamics of spinning balls; thanks to the Magnus effect, backspin on rapid react balls helped them arc better into the high goal, and increased their stability in flight for long distance shots.
Hooded shooter flywheels typically use TTB Urethane Wheels or Stealth Wheels. It is important that your flywheels maintain enough mass to hold a constant speed throughout the shot, to ensure consistent shots. Increasing the mass of your flywheel will increase it's moment of inertia, which in turn will increase its consistency. Games in which you can hold and shoot multiple pieces at a time such as Rapid React and Infinite Recharge especially necessitate massed flywheels. The 1678 shooter in 2022 utilized two SDS flywheels for its mass.
1678 Flywheel
1678 Pivot
 The most common method of pivoting a hooded shooter is a rack and pinion. 1678 utilized a 3DP rack integrated with their shooter's "hood," and a smaller gear that "climbed" the hood gear. This simple design allows for precise actuation of the hood to a wide range of angles.

See this Shooter in Action Here

Tip

Click the images to watch the videos.