Has anyone seem this sand flea video:
How would I duplicate this? I could use a servo to put the legs down and raise the body but Im stumped on how to create enough force to propel the robot. Would anyone have any ideas or suggestions?
Sincerely,
Michael
Hi, it looks like they use the principle that the little battery powered back flipping dogs that you could by at one time.
They have a powerful spring in the flip legs that come out.
A motor winds the legs out while tensionin the spring and at a certain point the arm is pushed further over but with the spring to power the flipper at full spring power. This causes the leap.
Notice how slow it is to get into the flip postion, this would be a geared motor (to get the required torque) winding the spring to firing position.
Great demo from a DARRPA inspired project.
If I remember right they used a cam arrangement.
Tom.... 
I would guess that there's many Farads of capacitor in there, charging up and dumping into a solenoid. The slowness of tilting up to launch is probably more convenience for the person doing the steering so they get the angle they want.
Amazing what can be done with a few million in tax dollars, ain't it?
Thanks you both!!! greatly appreciated.
Im researching solenoids now and I found this video:
If you have any links that would be awesome.