2012 - Ball2

The Army Ants’s 2012 robot “Ball2D2” was seeded in the 8th alliance. The robot could pick up balls from the floor and shoot them through a flywheel whose speed was regulated by a PID loop. A rickety lazy susan powered by a servo could aim the shooter (somewhat poorly). Ball 2 was a great outreach robot because kids loved to catch the foam basketballs, but it was hazardous with exposed flywheel gears and was somewhat homely. Ball2D2 was disassembled in 2015.  Mr. Nathanial Graham served as Chief Mentor and Dr. Julie Lyman continued as marketing / outreach mentor.