So
here we have the basic catapult, with a little man sitting on top for fun.
Of course, as soon as I set the catapult off, he went flying a couple feet,
and
landed under a desk, never to be seen again. So you've decided to see our weapons of mass destruction. No, we are not willing to sell them to government or other agencies for any amount of money. But I'm sure if you made us dinner we could work something out. What started out as a violent game of fortune-telling turned into an elite team of robots to be used for your own protection, or attacks. As Charlton Heston said, "Robots don't kill, people do.".... or something like that.
So
here we have the basic catapult, with a little man sitting on top for fun.
Of course, as soon as I set the catapult off, he went flying a couple feet,
and
landed under a desk, never to be seen again.
The catapult is basically a lever with a very heavy weight on one end, connected to a pole, very loosely. Because of the displacement of weight, the weighted side of the catapult will push down till the entire lever is almost perfectly vertical. I placed a little square panel on the lighter end of the lever to hold the "ammo" as they flew towards the target.
The gearing of the motor was relatively simple. We used a simple motor with a 24-toothed gear, and three shafts that are held together with legos and hot glue. I tried many different approaches to holding down the lever, but the lever proved to be either too heavy or too rigid or slippery to hold down. I even tried to fit a little niche with the hot glue to keep the panel and shaft from slipping. In the end, I found that a rubber band had enough friction to hold down the lever without the fear of slipping.
When the touch sensor is triggered, the arm holding down the lever will turn,releasing the lever. While all of the weight on the one side of the lever will rush down, throwing the lever into a vertical position quite quickly.
More images of that bad boy:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
THE
(notso) KILLA RABBIT
But had the robot been fully functional, there would be no question of
it's KILLERNESS.
A structure very much pilfered from the notorious film, Monty Python and
the Holy Grail, this oversized cardboard rubber band shooting rabbit on
wheels is finished with several layers of duct tape (in the spirit
of the 21st century
as opposed to the wooden medieval ages).
There are three motors that drive the Trojan Rabbit. The first, with the
cooperation of several gears, drives the enormous rabbit forward for
attack. The second
opens the trap door in the side of the rabbit. The third pulls the "trigger" and
releases a series of snapping rubber bands.
In addition to the three motors, there are two touch sensors. One initiates
the program loop that turns the rabbit on. This touch sensor is hidden
in the cotton poof of the rabbit's tail. The other is within the belly
of the
beast
and it turns off the motor that drives the posts to open the trap door.
More Pictures of the Trojan Rabit and working on it!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |