Building A Nerf-like Rocket Launcher With Airburst Capability

Nerf blasters typically fire small foam darts or little foam balls. [Michael Pick] wanted to build something altogether more devastating. To that end, he created a rocket launcher with an advanced air burst capability, intended to take out enemies behind cover.

Unlike Nerf’s own rocket launchers, this build doesn’t just launch a bigger foam dart. Instead, it launches an advanced smart projectile that releases lots of smaller foam submunitions at a set distance after firing.

The rocket launcher itself is assembled out of off-the-shelf pipe and 3D printed components.  An Arduino Uno runs the show, hooked up to a Bluetooth module and a laser rangefinder. The rangefinder determines the distance to the target, and the Bluetooth module then communicates this to the rocket projectile itself so it knows when to release its foamy payload after launch. Releasing the submunitions is achieved with a small microservo in the projectile which opens a pair of doors in flight, scattering foam on anyone below. The rockets are actually fired via strong elastic bands, with an electronic servo-controlled firing mechanism.

We’ve featured some great Nerf builds over the years, like this rocket-blasting robot.

25 thoughts on “Building A Nerf-like Rocket Launcher With Airburst Capability

    1. Oh so its not just me who doesn’t engage on 95% of projects that have AI images slathered all over them. Like please just have a picture of the thing you actually did, or no picture, that’s cool too.

      1. Dude you’re on hackaday, not Instagram, or Facebook. Most of us are engineers, many hobbyists too. Whipping together a project with an arduino board and a bunch of modules was entertaining maybe 10 years ago

    2. same here.
      Garenteed to be a clickbait photo cause it’s not a photo of the real system.
      Not interested in spending the time to see if maayyyybe it’s an exception.

    3. While I have nothing against AI art in principle, I definitely get that feeling of some styles of thumbnail really impressing that something is vapid while trying to pretend it’s not.

  1. This guy has 1.4 million subscribers. I have no idea what he makes off of that — I tried to look it up but apparently it varies between $50K per year and $900k per year depending on a variety of factors that don’t interest me.

    However, clearly this is how this person is either trying to make their living or actually succeeding.

    It was 15 boring gratuitous minutes where you could tell his camera and recording gear was far more important than his engineering gear.

    I can’t claim the greatest of skills but his soldering looked like something a junior high schooler might do at first couple of tries.

    His headline on YouTube for this video is “NERF Rocket Launcher BANNED in 7 Countries!”

    PLEASE, could HaD stop sending traffic to useless stuff like this?

  2. If it’s air propelled it would probably be legal in the U.S. if there are no explosives and it sounds like there aren’t. Rubber bands are still legal, for now.

    1. I’m fairly certain his claim of illegality is what is generally known as “hyperbole” or “puffery” which is intentional overstatement or exaggeration frequently associated with attempting to sell something.

      1. Good lord do I have to spoon-ready it to you?
        His headline on YouTube for this video is “NERF Rocket Launcher BANNED in 7 Countries!”

        To address another writer, if the fraglets were launched using an explosive that would be a problem. As the article mentions rubber bands are involved.

        It is illegal in several States in the United States to manufacture unregistered firearms. I wasn’t consulted but there it is. This isn’t a firearm under U.S. law.

    2. Last I remember there are actually provisions in the US that allow for self-made firearms in general.
      I’d have to look into it more but that’s part of why it became a thing for some people to buy all the parts of a gun but one piece because they didn’t require any legal work. Then just made the receiver(?) themselves with a mill.

      1. Yes at the federal level that’s true, “80% lower receivers”. The mill is where they get you, at least $1,000. And it’s illegal to rent it to someone else for the same purpose.

  3. I dunno, so much negativity. But, he looks like he’s having fun and any kind of nerf content sucks me in.

    That said, a couple of custom PCBs would make short work of his ugly-@ssed wiring jobs.

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