[Yaaarc] Robot toy armament

[Keith Mc. (Route-To YAR)]

Erik Kauppi <ekauppi at corsa-inst.com> wrote:
> I'm looking for a marshmallow shooter or something similar to put 
> on a toy robot.
> [...]
> Anybody have experience building something like this?

Yes. 

> Any suggestions for hackable toy armament?  

Initial questions, to gauge what are the options"
1) What size/weight scale (jeepbot, flutterbot, etc)?
2) What are the available power sources?
3) What is your "target"? (kids, misbehaving pets, or what?)
4) What is the shot capacity, and range desired?
5) Is this to be a "machine gun" with a hopper, or a few shot semiauto,
   or a few shot fixed widget?

At jeepbot scale, you have LOTS of options.
FYI, 12V Pneumatics work GREAT at that size/power!  I can help you with that.
Marshmallows, nerf items, paper wads, etc. are all candidate shells.
A TP roll streamer shooter is great fun.  Made with a leaf blower
run on an inverter and a paint roller, it can devastate people with
a stream of TP... <grin>

At flutterbot scale, not many options.  I'd advise shooting 
mini-erasers, foam balls, or the tiny 6mm rubber toy pellets 
(available at Meijers in bulk).  Easiest device is probably 
a gearmotor cycling a spring shooter, with a drop hopper above it.

Hacking a nerf "foam rocket gun" to mount to a pan-tilt is another option.
A belt driven rubber tipped "dart gun" machine gun would be cool, too.

Any of these strike your fancy?

- Keith Mc.