Spider Web Catapult

Posted on April 05, 2021

Team Members Heading link

  • Manny Avitia
  • Tom Bates
  • John Gerig
  • Tesfay Legesse
  • Gunnar Waldvogel
  • Justin Washington

Project Description Heading link

A slingshot spider’s web is able to store an immense amount of energy and can accelerate an object at ~130Gs. By mimicking nature, we are able to achieve results not achievable by traditional methods. Our objective was to design a catapult that could replicate 1/10th the acceleration of the slingshot spider. Our ANSYS analysis showed the web structure itself was critical to achieve this result. We confirmed the results of our model with a physical experiment and  exceeded our initial goal.

See supporting documentation in the team’s Box drive.

Modified on March 31, 2024