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Frisbee Launcher

Overview

  • This project was designed for the Mechanical Engineering Design Studio and Professional Practicea college course at UGA

  • My team was tasked with designing and building a device that could launch a mini frisbee disc onto a target while adhering to specific constraints: the device had to be manually powered, trigger-activated, portable within a 3’x3’x3’ size, and operate without motors, air pressure, or chemical reactions. A $100 material budget also limited the design.

  • Our frisbee launcher stores energy through a bike tire that is spun manually with a recoil starter. The frisbee is loaded into place and pushed into a track through a pull-string trigger attached to a hammer with stored energy in a spring. The track aligns the frisbee with the spinning bike tire and propels it towards the target.

My Contributions

  • I led my team of 5 by managing group discussions, recording meetings, and providing most of the design mechanics.

  • I assisted in the project's construction, working many extra hours to ensure the device was completed by competition time.

Results

  • Our device propelled the frisbee with a top distance recorded as 23 ft and an average of 13 ft. 11 in. reached over 10 trials.

  • Out of 15 teams, our device was the only design that successfully utilized a flywheel and frisbee. A majority of other groups designed catapults​

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Click the image to view the full design notebook

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