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Pumpkin Chunkin'!

Our 2011 Trebuchet

For the past two years, MORT has constructed a floating arm trebuchet, or FAT, instead of the traditional trebuchet. In this design, the weights fall down linearly, and the axis of rotation of the arm moves forward using wheels mounted to the arm. The motion of this trebuchet gives the pumpkin a whipping effect which gives a greater distance than regular trebuchet which rotates on one axis with the same weight.

In the 2010 design, we began with our first attempt at a FAT, and created our sling and perfected the track and release system. We were very happy with how the FAT concept worked, and decided to come back in 2011 with a bigger and better trebuchet.

In the 2011 machine, we faced many challenges, as we lifted the counterweights almost 16 feet in the air instead of the 8 feet we lifted it last year. The entire trebuchet was doubled in dimensions, and the ratio's between certain measurements were change to the optimal relationship based off of long calculations. We also created a strong and versatile adjustable finger which we use to change our angle of release. Many design challenges were taken on when making MORT's 2011 machine, but all were overcome and success was found. MORT's trebuchet

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Events

Event Date Place Farthest Throw
Last Pumpkin Sling 2010 October 30-31st, 2010 1st 548ft
Last Pumpkin Sling 2011 October 22-23rd, 2011 1st 959ft
Punkin’ Chunkin’ World Championship 2011 November 4-6th, 2011 3rd 752.56ft

About

We started chunking pumpkins in 2010 as a way to provide more teamwork experience before the started the 2010 FIRST Robotics season. From design to build, MORT students and mentors worked to create a trebuchet that flew a pumpkin 548ft to win the Last Pumpkin Sling event in New Jersey. What started as a teamwork project evolved into a great way to provide not only practice for the upcoming FIRST season, but also to provide team enthusiasm amongst new and old members.

With our knowledge gained from the 2010 trebuchet, we set out to best our previous record. Over the course of about 2 months, approximately 30 MORT students and mentors joined together to create our latest trebuchet. This trebuchet will not only compete at the Last Pumpkin Sling event, but also at the World Pumpkin Chunkin Championships in Bridgeville, Delaware.

Check out this page here to check out MORT's news publicity involving the numerous Pumpkin events! MORT's Trebuchet MORT's 2011 Trebuchet