Talented designer Jason Allemann of JK Brickworks built a very clever and amusing LEGO robotics Candy Cane Catapult that shoots mini canes of any flavor across the room with just a touch of a button.
Enter the candy cane catapult! Okay, yes, it’s really more like a trebuchet, but ‘candy cane catapult’ has a certain ring to it…
Alleman used the 51515 Mindstorms Robot Inventor set to build his custom sugar-throwing trebuchet.
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 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.
Here’s footage of Alleman building the contraption.
