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SAND FLEA!? help

boa

hello,

 

i am currently studying computer engineering and for my dynamics class i was asked to make a arduino based project that had to do with dynamics.

basically i want to make this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b4ZZQkcNEo

 

image

With the modification that it will calculate based on the angle and the force, how high & long it traveled and with what acceleration & velocity 

It doesn't have to jump as much, it would just have to jump about 2m at most, the thing is that i know how to do the build, wheels, circuits, programming my weak spot is the mechanics that will make this thing

jump. I would really appreciate and helpful ideas/tips/comments/ on how to make this thing jump.

 

Thank you element 14 community

  • 0

    Hi Carl - Here are some thoughts. Keep the mass to a minimum as each gram of added mass will increase the force that has to be delivered to make it jump. To simplify you might want to consider a one shot mechanism that you can *** like a mouse trap that can be triggered once. The force to make it jump has to be delivered through the center of gravity or you will just spin it. If the force is delivered through the center of gravity at a 45 degree angle to the horizontal you should get the most lateral distance for a give force. Since any force producing mechanism that can be put into such a small device will have a fairly short action distance in which to deliver the force it will have to be done quickly.  Another idea would be a CO2 powered piston controlled by a solenoid that can be triggered by the Arduino. This might give you multiple jumps. I loved the video. This is one of those devices that look simple but are actually very high technology. Sorry I can't help you more. Please let us know what you figure out.

    John

  • 0

    Hi Carl, I had one other idea. A while ago I noticed in a toy store they had a mechanical dog that went back on its hind legs and jumped, performing a flip before landing on its feet again. If you could get your hands on one of these you could hack the mechanism. If the force from the dogs flip were vectored through the center of gravity it would jump instead of flip.

    John

  • 0

    Hi john,

     

    Thank you for your tips and pointers,

    right know i reside in mexico city and the dog jumping toy is not

    too popular at local stores i looked at some videos and i think the bot

    would be to heavy for the particular toy i was looking at. Thank you so much

    for the CO2 piston idea, do you think if i connect a pre-charged CO2 gas tank to a

    telescope piston, that that would make it work?

     

    Carl

  • 0 in reply to boa

    Hi Carl - If you connect the gas cylinder to a small piston and the piston shaft can be made to accelerate at more than 9.8 m/sec^2 whatever it is connected to will jump. The faster the acceleration the higher it will jump. The hard part may be how to hook it up and how to control how long the pressurized cylinder is hooked to the piston. Typically some sort of pneumatic solenoid would be used and controled by an electrical circuit. I myself have never hooked up an pneumatic piston to anything like a jumping car so I can't say whether the parts you will need are available. I will continue to let you know if I think of any other alternatives.
    John

  • 0

    For working out jump height and time I would consider a physical solution. Load sensors on each axel to determine if it is on the ground (heavy load) or airborne (little to o load) and an ultrasonic sensor on a gimbal to determine the height.

  • 0

    Darpa probably spent millions of US dollars on that cute jumper! This is a huge task to replicate anything close. You should use rubber bands or a spring with a small motor to wind up the action. Forget the wheels unless you want to modify a small Radio Controlled car with a jumping arm added.