Army Ascent Andy

Members: Karlee, Gina and Andy

Prototype 1 - The Shmock-Up

This shmock-up, titled Andy the Mountain Man Shoot and Climber, consists of an army trooper that contains two mechanisms for his goal of climbing vertically towards a desired destination in a combat pursuit during his assigned mission. These two mechanisms are a “bazooka” style launcher with a rubber band that launches the grappling hook up to a desired location and a retractable string attached to the grappling hook, which is to be pulled out and clamped prior to launch and released after launch of the grappling hook in order for the army man to ascend up. The bazooka launcher is a simple tube with a cylinder that is forced outward using a rubber band wrapped around the end of the tube and is mounted on the army man’s hands for him to hold while launching the grappling hook. The retractable device consists of a radial wound spring that forces the string to be pulled back in after being pulled out and is mounted in a waist pouch.

Prototype 2 - The Interim Prototype

This view below shows the army man with his existing spring loaded climbing device, as well as an additional spring that was tested for possible stronger retraction. The army man will no longer be powered by a spring due to lack of strength of the recoil springs. Also, the launcher will use a linear spring instead of a rubber band to launch the grappling hook due to difficulty and inconsistency of the launching with a rubber band set up. It will be equipped with an electric motor with a gear train to a spindle that will pull the army man up after launching the grappling hook with a spring loaded launcher to a desired location. It is preferred to have a ratcheting or release device on the spindle so that the string for the grappling hook will be easier to pull out prior to launch. This set up should work well providing all of the necessary components can be assembled properly.

Prototype 3 - The Final Prototype

Watch the video of this project