Spider Web Catapult
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.
Modified on March 31, 2024