You know what our childhood NERF battles were missing? Accurate separation of duties. Everyone either had a “machine gun” or pistol, and ran around like chickens getting shot in the eyes too often. Where were the siege engines? The catapults? Your friends wouldn’t be able to gang up on you if you were flanked by giant NERF cannons or ballistas. Enter an engineer with a grudge.
In the video above, former NASA engineer and now science YouTuber Mark Rober (and two nerdy friends) has created the world’s largest functional NERF gun to protect himself from office NERF fights. It’s a giant recreation of a classic NERF pistol that is powered by a 3,000-pounds-per-square-inch paint ball canister. But because using all that air pressure for a single shot would shoot more than your eye out, kid—Rober shoots through a pane of glass with it—the gun is limited to multiple 80-PSI shots. Still, Rober’s ginormous weapon is able to launch pool noodles with plunger tops at around 40 mph (64 kph) and render them stuck to targets.
When Rober changes the projectile size and shape, however, the NERF monstrosity can engage in squishy warfare from over a football field away. But for battling his nieces and nephews, plungers and foam it is. I’d like to see a plunger perfectly launched to stick on a child’s head, but that sounds…dangerous?
What do you think? Would Rober’s weapon be useful in an all-out NERF war? What other childhood toy deserves the embiggening treatment?
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Select Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: PyCon AU 2024 Talks, New Raspberry Pi Gear Available and More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
