Turrets: The 360-Degree Advantage
Uncouple your driving from your shooting. Why a turret is the ultimate weapon for scoring under defense.
Turrets: The 360-Degree Advantage
Most robots shoot forward. To shoot, they must turn their entire chassis to face the goal. This makes them slow and easy to defend.
Enter The Turret
A Turret allows your shooter to rotate independently of your chassis.
- Chassis: Facing the Loading Zone (to get game pieces).
- Turret: Facing the Goal (to score).
- Result: You can score while driving away.
The “Run and Gun”
With a Turret + Swerve Drive, you are unstoppable.
You can drive in a circle around a defender while seeking the goal constantly.
Logic: TurretAngle = GoalAngle - RobotHeading.
Construction Basics
- Lazy Susan Bearing: The core component. A large, thin ball bearing.
- Belt Drive: Never use gears directly on a turret (too much backlash). Use a belt to drive the rotation smoothy.
- Cable Management: This is the nightmare. How do you get wires to the spinning shooter?
- Solution: A “Cable Snake” or “Igus Chain” that wraps around the center.
Conclusion
Building a turret is hard. Programming a turret is harder. But if you do it, you play a different game than everyone else.