Disc throwing robot a possibility?

[DiscyBusiness]

Instead of being able to box, for example, 45 discs per hour, you'd be individually testing each disc, making it take forever to get a disc in a box.

Alright, alright, BUT, what if the factory is rearranged so the throwing robot is in part of the workflow, and the thrower is the piece that gets the disc from the end of the assembly line to whatever the next stage is. If it lands in the right zone for the expected flight, it gets shipped out as a good disc, if it lands elsewhere, it gets thrown in the reject pile. :hfive:

You're assuming that how you like how a particular run of a particular disc flies is how everyone wants that disc to fly. The beauty of run variations is that not everyone wants the same flight for various reasons.

I wasn't though. I'm saying a standard is identified and set, then people either continue bagging a mold if they like that standard, or they move to a different mold that flies the way they want.

 

[Monocacy]

. . . If it lands in the right zone for the expected flight, it gets shipped out as a good disc, if it lands elsewhere, it gets thrown in the reject pile. . . .

Even better - three landing zones. The peak of the bell curve lands in the "normal" area. More understable and more overstable variants land in separate areas, to be sold with a markup as "special" discs lol

 

[Hampstead]

I wasn't though. I'm saying a standard is identified and set, then people either continue bagging a mold if they like that standard, or they move to a different mold that flies the way they want.

That the thing though. If Innova were somehow able to standardize a Destroyer (ha!) lots of folks will lose out on one of the dozens of variations that they prefer. Do you propose that manufacturers rename a disc each time a particular run or plastic blend flies differently?

 

[DiscyBusiness]

Even better - three landing zones. The peak of the bell curve lands in the "normal" area. More understable and more overstable variants land in separate areas, to be sold with a markup as "special" discs lol

heh, now we got a stew goin brother

That the thing though. If Innova were somehow able to standardize a Destroyer (ha!) lots of folks will lose out on one of the dozens of variations that they prefer. Do you propose that manufacturers rename a disc each time a particular run or plastic blend flies differently?

That's what I'm saying - if the Standardized Destroyer isn't to their liking, they should move to the Standardized X-Cal, or whatever fits what they want. Regarding your last question - now, granted, I'm talking out my ass and don't know too much about the details of plastic disc production and what's feasible, but the idea was this improved QA tool would allow them to refine their production techniques so there is minimal if any differences between runs.

 

[Hampstead]

heh, now we got a stew goin brother



That's what I'm saying - if the Standardized Destroyer isn't to their liking, they should move to the Standardized X-Cal, or whatever fits what they want. Regarding your last question - now, granted, I'm talking out my ass and don't know too much about the details of plastic disc production and what's feasible, but the idea was this improved QA tool would allow them to refine their production techniques so there is minimal if any differences between runs.

Too many variables for consistent run standardization. What plastic pellets were used for this batch? How did the discs cool coming out of the mold? Is it still true that darker colors have a different stability than lighter colors? (Remember when the Prodigy guys were basically begging folks to hook them up with any lavender D1's that were out in the wild?) As for Destroyers, Ricky's fly different from late run embossed McBeth's from early run Vulcan topped sharp flashing McBeth's from the flippy run of 2 line AJ's. FAF Firebirds wouldn't be a thing because they are different than current production runs. It's those variations that make certain discs appealing to certain people. In your scenario, there would be potentially more x-outs than actual production runs if discs had to conform to some robotic arm standard. And on and on.

 

[sidewinder22]

Has anyone seen any analysis at all of RPMs? Plenty of disc speed data out there, but has anyone filmed the throw from above with a high speed camera, with a mark on the disc's edge, and figured out how much spin we are putting on these discs?

Would need this figure to set this robot up correctly.

....

Disc Spin Test Results

I have designed and tested a method for measuring the RPM's of a thrown disc. This design utilizes an on board LCD readout taken from a Powerball Gyroscope. This small computer counts the revolutions of a revolving magnet. It can keep track of total RPM's, as well as a maximum RPM which is conveniently held in memory until either exceeded or manually reset. I then constructed a lightweight vertical tail/boom and fastened it to a pin in the discs center. I then attached a doughnut shaped magnet to the boom. This magnet is set to pass directly over the computer sensor. When the disc is the thrown the tail tracks in a straight back position, while the sensor and disc spin.

My initial prediction was that when thrown, a disc would essentially be rolling out of your hand. For an example a golf disc rolling along the ground at 60 mph would be spinning at 2325 RPM, and I thought the same RPM would happen with a disc is thrown through the air at 60 mph.

My test plan was to use my radar gun in conjunction with the RPM disc to get an accurate range of data.The results can be seen in the graph below. I was definitely surprised by the variance in spin. I made an effort to throw each test shot with the same form and technique. As a disc is thrown harder, say over 70 mph the spin of the disc can actually drop below what it was at 50 mph. I can throw 80 mph at my max and the spin at this speed is right around 2000 rpm. A theory is that the wrist can't keep up with really fast arm speeds, and can't supply an ever increasing amount of spin. As an example I never broke 2330 RPM during my tests, and that spin was with a 54 mph throw!

I also tested half a dozen sidearm throws. I have a "no wobble" side arm that uses allot of wrist snap. The results were conclusive that sidearm has 25% less inherent spin than a backhand throw. I assume that is why so many peoples sidearm throws wobble. It is also possible to increase or decrease spin purposefully, although I found this to be impractical and awkward. A disc with extra spin does seem to resist low speed fade better than a disc with less spin. Strangely, when I tried to spin the hell out of a disc it would sometimes show less rpm's than a normal throw?!

I realize that individual form and technique might show very different results. My friend Jim tried the RPM disc and seemed to have a noticeably higher spin-to-speed ratio than me. He really cocks his wrist, while I keep mine tight like a spring. I hope you guys find these results interesting!

note: Erin is currently building a disc launching machine, which spins the disc up at a chosen rpm and then launches it. This device has adjustable hyzer angle, and adjustable vertical angle of release. It has been tested ejecting a disc @109 mph into a radar gun, then net. (historically, the fastest recorded disc throw was 85 mph). This device will then make it possible to find the correlation between spin and distance. It will also allow any disc to be measured for distance and any desired flight characteristics during calm conditions and in a precise and repeatable way. It's cool. Will post pics and results in the near future.

Avery had this bar on the disc to measure spin rate and JR from DGR said it was 19.7 RPS or almost 1200 RPM on a 500' Teebird shot.

 

[PlaQRd.com]

Unless someone threw the same as the robot, the discs will still fly differently for different people.

Yeah, but if the same machine is throwing them all, then you have a consistent control. You use that control to identify the variance in your own throw with discs that you have experience with and assess in that way.

Much better than basing the flight path off of various disc golfers who throw differently than one-another, that have a much larger circular error radius and are subject to bad days/throws and mistakes.

 

[BillFleming]

Yeah, but if the same machine is throwing them all, then you have a consistent control. You use that control to identify the variance in your own throw with discs that you have experience with and assess in that way.

Much better than basing the flight path off of various disc golfers who throw differently than one-another, that have a much larger circular error radius and are subject to bad days/throws and mistakes.

and flight numbers could be standard across all brands. "On a level flight, the disc flies ends up 350 feet away, but 10 feet to the left...so it is a fade of 1"..."and the disc reaches its max distance thrown at 62 mph which equates to a speed of 10"....or some such thing. Combine it with a speed gun to see when the disc loses the 'power' part of its flight and enters the glide....now the flight numbers would have real meaning.

 

[ninjabq]

 

[Jolt]

 

[Murwen]

A 90 mph launch only going 450 feet makes it seem like theres something funky going on with this one.

 

[seedlings]

That 1400' Machine throw is impressive. Hope they try some other discs.

 

[Murwen]

That 1400' Machine throw is impressive. Hope they try some other discs.

A Berg would be really funny.

 

[Countchunkula]

I'd like to see something ridiculously flippy get launched by one of these contraptions. See how many barrel rolls it would do at various launch angles.


Or a Stego.