To shoot the ball, we considered horizontal flywheels, vertical flywheels, a spring-loaded mechanism, and a crossbow mechanism. Horizontal flywheels would allow for a simple way to implement impressive automatic firing. This would create a great user experience with relatively low cost. The biggest disadvantage is that it would require a good, light motor, which could be costly, and could still be heavy relative to a spring-loaded or crossbow mechanism. Vertical flywheels have the same advantages as horizontal flywheels, but would probably cause an asymmetry for the user, causing a moment to be generated; the motor may have to be attached to the side of the user. The flywheels also may increase the height of the center of gravity, which would cause a higher moment when the gun is tilted. These factors decrease the ease of handling. A spring-loaded mechanism is light, but would be difficult to implement and would not be as fun as an automatic firing mechanism. We believe it would be difficult to implement since the spring has be controlled (being pulled back by some actuator), and would have to have an airtight barrel to shoot out the dart. The crossbow mechanism is also light and powerful, but have similar difficulties as the spring loaded mechanism along with a rubber band that has to be reset.

 

 

In terms of storing darts we first thought of a magazine that stores darts and feeds them to the rotating flywheels either by gravity, a spring or a rotating belt. Ideally, the magazine will be easy to insert, remove and reload. Since the use of foam balls might be superior to darts, we developed the concept of a hopper in which many balls would reside and be fed to the flywheels via gravity or a spring. After testing out these initial concepts, we ran into many issues and decided to pursue a new concept. Our final concept for storing the darts involves pre-loading them in a modified NERF magazine, with a paddle wheel to push the ball to the flywheels. 

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