I am attempting to build the electrical circuit in the diagram that i have attached, it is a kicker for a soccer robot. I have ordered the chipset online an I got everything else at Jaycar except the solenoid. I don't know which solenoid to get (watts, current etc.) and i don't know how to find out, can anyone please help?

PS. This is a robotics project, not homework, if i have posted it in the wrong section please let me know.

 

I am attempting to build the electrical circuit in the diagram that i have attached, it is a kicker for a soccer robot. I have ordered the chipset online an I got everything else at Jaycar except the solenoid. I don't know which solenoid to get (watts, current etc.) and i don't know how to find out, can anyone please help?

PS. This is a robotics project, not homework, if i have posted it in the wrong section please let me know.

I think you need to work backwards from the impact with the ball. How much momentum do you need to impart to the ball? Once you know that and the mass of the "kicker", that'll tell you the velocity it needs to achieve. That in turn, considering the mechanical motions involved, will define the range of action and required speed of the solenoid plunger. In other words, it's all "just" physics.

If you want to skip some of that, you could just estimate the kinetic energy you want imparted to the ball, guesstimate that losses will be comparable to whatever the ball gets, and choose a solenoid that consumes roughly double the energy that you want the ball to get.

You might ask a moderator to move this to the Projects forum if it's really not homework. Not everyone here that might help you takes time to browse the Homework forum.

 

I agree with Wayne. A solenoid will not impart sufficient momentum for your needs. What you want is a motorized wind-up spring mechanism that can store enough potential energy and have it released by a solenoid.

 

Coincidentally, I was watching a video of some soccer bots (see below). This may be of absolutely no help to you, but look at how they are doing it....looks like rollers are spinning and then there is a solenoid-operated plate for the kick.

From: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~robosoccer/small/#Hardware
"The kicker is a large diameter custom wound solenoid attached directly to a kicking plate, which offers improved durability compared to designs using a standard D-frame solenoid."

Kind of interesting, yes?