How do you build a LEGO catapult that will send candy canes flying? “Okay, yes,” admits LEGO aficionado Jason Allemann, “it’s really more like a trebuchet, but ‘candy cane catapult’ has a certain ring to it, no? Regardless, this was a fun project which may or may not have resulted in many broken candy canes that needed to be eaten.”
The holiday-themed JK Brickworks video above shares each step of building this candy-hurtling machine with parts from the LEGO Mindstorms Robot Inventor set.
The model features a few interesting design elements. The hub itself and two of the motors are used as the counterweight for the throwing arm, which it is primed and released using a single motor and spring loaded trigger. The color sensor is used to detect when the launch button is pushed, and the feed system is gravity powered, using a reciprocating arm to release a single candy cane at a time onto the throwing arm.
Allemann provides a free building guide [pdf] and parts list so you can make your own LEGO Candy Cane Catapult.
Watch these JK Brickworks and LEGO videos next:
• A Sisyphus kinetic sculpture made with LEGO
• JK Brickworks’ LEGO Drawing Machine
• A physics teacher explains tensegrity sculptures with LEGO
• Cycling, a LEGO Technic creation by Yoshihito Isogawa
Bonus: How are candy canes made?
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