As part of the Science Honors Society at Timberlane, I was asked to participate in the 2024 Science Olympiad.  I chose the air powered projectile project, where you have to launch a ping pong ball between 2 and 8 meters and try to hit as close to the center of the target as possible.  My partner Lucas chose a different project.  You have two shots at each target, and can request a "bucket shot" if your first shot is near the target.  I had my launcher dialed in and ready, and landed my first shot very close to the first 2 meter target.  My second shot landed in the bucket.  My third shot was also very close to the center of the 6 meter target, so I took a bucket shot with my 4th and final shot.  I didn't have enough altitude to land it in the bucket this time, but I hit the side and still got extra points.  Our launcher easily won this competetion.

This was the first competition that I attended with the ping pong ball launcher.  The plywood base was only supported at the four corners with rubber feet, and was causing the whole rig to bounce at launch on the hard concrete floor.  On the drive home I realized that we had tested the launcher either in the snow in the driveway or on carpet indoors, and it operated differently than on concrete.  I removed the four rubber feet and instead installed a piece of anti-fatigue floor mat (I asked my dad if I could cut up the oldest mat in the shop) and that fixed the problem before my next competition.

When the launcher was complete, it was the middle of a snowstorm.  It worked out well, as we could clearly see exactly where the ping pong ball landed.  However, it was also an issue, as the launcher behaved differently sitting in snow than on a hard floor.

The rules of the competition were that a ping pong ball needed to be launched repeatedly and accurately, using only the power of a falling weight under a certain mass and the entire device must fit within a specified box size.

The design of the launcher started as a vertical falling weight onto a stomp rocket bladder, but the weight would jam on the guide rails.  I redesigned the launcher to make the weight pivot as it fell, making it much more repeatable.  The trigger mechanism allowed me to use one of 14 launch positions of the weight, and the extending launch tube was allowed to rotate to align it with the target and also to change elevation.  All of the red parts were 3D printed in red PLA material on our Ultimaker 2+ 3D printer.