Newsgroups: comp.robotics
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From: m3970@mel.go.jp (HIROHIKO Arai)
Subject: Re: Robot frisbee
Message-ID: <1994Dec26.010500.5737@mel.go.jp>
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Organization: Mechanical Engineering Laboratory
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References: <NIVEK.94Dec19101150@mattock.cmu.edu>
Date: Mon, 26 Dec 1994 01:05:00 GMT
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>> Someone recently asked me about a robot frisbee player - Having once
>> been an avid Ultimate player, I would have remembered this had I heard
>> of it. Is anyone aware of people who built devices to throw frisbees?

I watched a TV show of a robot frisbee contest yesterday.
Many frisbee robots which were built by engineering highschool 
students in Japan competed.  The rule was to throw 25 frisbees
into goals 3-6m far from starting line in 2 minutes. The robots
were remote-controlled by operators.
It was an exciting game, though many of the robots were like
pitching machines or parts feeders.  The champion robot threw
frisbees with a rubber roller.  The robot which won the first
technical prize had wonderful mechanisms.  It turns 5 arms where
frisbees were put. Rotations were given to the frisbees with a
chain mechanism to stabilize their trajectory. When trigger 
mechanism pushed up the frisbees, they fly out to the tangential
direction of the arm turning.

Hirohiko Arai
Mechanical Engineering Laboratory, MITI
Tsukuba, Japan
