Brent's Blog

Digital Slingshot

I designed the Digital Slingshot for a company in India. The first version was a rush project – they asked for a Slingshot with a built in keyboard and a base station that received the message typed into the slingshot as it was shot at a large screen projection. It was a pretty short amount of time to design and print the 3D objects and also the electronics needed for the project. I used NRF24 wireless modules and a Nextion intelligent display module.

The slingshot has a IR laser in it – and when the ‘sling’ is released the message is wirelessly sent to the base station, which also has an infrared sensitive camera that detects the location of the ‘shot’ – and the message is displayed on the projected screen with an animation.

I went on to create a PCB for it (modified from one of my earlier designs) – and tested several different methods of wireless technology until I settled on Lora – due to its long range and low power requirements.

I also created a wooden version of it using the CNC that I built from spare parts from my 3D Printer project.