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KSP Loading... Preview: Breaking Ground - Robotics


St4rdust

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@Snark wanted to explore the creative boundaries of robotically enhanced transportation, so h e built the H.B.K.T., or Happy Ballistic Kerbal Transporter.

This electric catapult is a simple contraption with two large Square Hinges, plus one Small Square Hinge.  The two big hinges are motorized, the little one is not (it's a free pivot).  After slapping it toget her in the VAB, he just used some slider controls on the hing es' Part Action Window to set up their properties.  To activate the fling, he just added the hinges' "toggle" action to an action gro up.  (You can do more complicated stuff with them, too, but a simple toggle was all he needed for the catapult.)

Launching Val on a journey of discovery is simple:
1. Launch to the pad with Val in the command seat
2. Press the action-group key to initiate the fling
3. Click "Leave Seat" at just the strategic moment.

It was every bit as fun as it looked, and Snark set himself a challenge to see what's the greatest distance he can fling her downrange.  His best record, shown here, was 1.9 km.

The tricky bit is getting the timing on "Leave Seat" just right.  Get it wrong, and Val doesn't go so fa r.  If you get it just a little worse wrong, then Val is having a b ad problem and she will not go to the beach today.

 

 

 

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3 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said:

Is it possible to make a trebuchet?

Why, now that you mention it, yes.  Yes, it is. :)


EUdjR7A.jpg

...That's completely unmotorized.  It's purely using the weight of the counterweight to drive the whole thing.  It flings when I release that launch clamp at left.

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5 minutes ago, Snark said:

Why, now that you mention it, yes.  Yes, it is. :)


EUdjR7A.jpg

...That's completely unmotorized.  It's purely using the weight of the counterweight to drive the whole thing.  It flings when I release that launch clamp at left.

That's a big counterweight you got there.

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8 minutes ago, Starboost88 said:

That's a big counterweight you got there.

This is KSP.  When in doubt, over-engineer.  MOAR WEIGHT!  :)

...Seriously, though, you're probably right, it's probably overkill.  I was challenging myself to see "how far can I fling a kerbal".  My first iteration of the trebuchet didn't get anywhere near the range that I got with the electric catapult, so I was tinkering with it to see what I could do to boost the range, and "well, maybe a bigger counterweight" was one of the things I tried.

I still haven't gotten it up to the electric catapult's range yet, but I suspect that trebuchets need more "tuning" to get the physics optimized than an electric catapult does.  With the catapult, it's mainly just "how much torque can you cram into the hinge motors", so "more is better" and it's not so much of an optimization thing.  Whereas I think to get the best results from a trebuchet, it probably requires some careful tuning (e.g. mass of counterweight, length of short arm, length of long arm, length of "sling" on long arm, etc.)

It may be that with careful tuning of the various lengths and so forth, the trebuchet could outperform the catapult, but I haven't had the time or patience yet to do that.  :)

8 minutes ago, Xurkitree said:

So it threw a 90kg projectile over 300m?

Yup.

The catapult managed 1.9 km.  The best I've managed with the trebuchet is about 900 meters thus far.

It's true that stating those numbers is "cheating" a bit, since that includes using the kerbal's EVA parachute to glide a long distance.  The numbers would have been quite a bit smaller if I just let Val go splat.  However, I'm pretty sure that even on a purely ballistic trajectory, she would have gone considerably farther than 300 m.

It's also worth noting that both of these contraptions were pretty much my first attempt, with only a little bit of trial-and-error tinkering-- just a quick "slapped this together to see how it worked" sort of thing.  You're looking at what I casually slapped together in a few minutes, not something at the end of hours of optimization.  I'm sure that if one really went to town on it, one could do quite a bit better.  :)

They weren't hard to construct.  The process was pretty simple, basically at the same level of complexity and difficulty as putting a rocket together.  Go to the VAB, slap parts together, twiddle a few settings here and there, launch.

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7 minutes ago, Snark said:

The numbers would have been quite a bit smaller if I just let Val go splat.  However, I'm pretty sure that even on a purely ballistic trajectory, she would have gone considerably farther than 300 m.

Damn it, now I want you to cheat the atmosphere off on Kerbin and test how far she goes. On the other hand I want no more "spoilers" and an opportunity to test these things for myself with all the novelty that comes with it.. :rolleyes:

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Just now, scimas said:

Damn it, now I want you to cheat the atmosphere off on Kerbin and test how far she goes. On the other hand I want no more "spoilers" and an opportunity to test these things for myself with all the novelty that comes with it.. :rolleyes:

Well, consider this a sneak peek.  All I'm saying is, "This is how far I managed with just a bit of tinkering.  I bet you can go farther, if you try."

You'll have plenty of opportunity for creativity and novelty, believe me.

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1 hour ago, Snark said:

That's not a trebuchet.  It's a catapult.  Different thing entirely.  :sticktongue:

...still waiting for someone to ask...

Because someone has to be that guy... :P

A catapult is any apparatus designed to hurl an object with mechanical assistance. Ancient greek: kata peltes = "downward" "hurling". Unfortunately the term is often misused as a specific name for what is actually called an onager. Which to be fair is a kind of catapult. Just not the catapult.

Trebuchets, mangonels, onagers, ballistas, crossbows, aircraft carrier launch rails, and hand-held slingshots are all catapults. Railguns are not catapults, as they use electromagnetic force. Cannons, rifles and pistols are not catapults, as they use chemical energy.

 

 

*gets pulled offstage by a long hook* :confused:

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1 hour ago, Snark said:

That's not a trebuchet.  It's a catapult.  Different thing entirely.  :sticktongue:

...still waiting for someone to 

Oops, my bad :D .  i really should have been a bit sharper on that one, given my line of work.

Still the catpult did show that a trebuchet was possible

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