Out of all of Batman’s massive array of tools which turn a relatively ordinary person into a superhero, perhaps his most utilitarian is his grappling gun — allowing him the ability to soar around his city like Spiderman or Superman. [John Boss] isn’t typically fighting crime, but he did develop his own grappling gun of sorts which gives him another superpower: the ability to easily scale snowy hills to quickly get back to the top.
The grappling gun takes inspiration from a commonly used tool called a power ascender, which is often used in industry applications where climbing is required. This one is held in the hand and uses a brushless motor with a belt-driven 3:1 reduction for increased torque. The pulley system, bearings, and motor are all housed in a 3D printed enclosure and are powered by rechargeable Milwaukee power tool batteries. During prototyping the rope intake and output feed locations had to be moved to increase the pulley’s grabbing ability, and with a working prototype he swapped a lot of the plastic 3D printed parts out for metal to increase the sturdiness of the device.
The grappling gun was originally designed for a smaller child to get hoisted up a hill on a sled, but when stress testing the device [John] found out that it actually has more than enough capability to haul even an adult up a hill on skis. As an added bonus, the outfeed for the rope can be put into a bag and used to automatically coil the rope up when he’s done at the hill. Although this is a great solution for a portable rope tow, for something more permanent and more powerful take a look at this backyard rope tow that was built from spare parts.
I was waiting for the Part where the Unit Included a Spear Gun to Shoot the Rope Uphill, then Pull himself back up..
That must be the V2.0 Unit ?..
Great Work..
Cap
Me too. There are a lot of places where you start out at the top of the hill, and ski/sled into a valley, but if your starting point is the bottom of the hill you still have at least one unaided climb to the top to attach the rope.
Arborists use a thin nylon line that they throw over tree limbs, then use that to pull heavier weight-bearing ropes up into place. Perhaps a drone could be used to pull the light line up the hill, around a suitable anchor, and back down. Then use the thin line to pull the heavy one into place.
But a batarang would be cooler…
Growing up in colorado we used to go tubing, sledding down a hill on an innertube. We had a 300 foot (600ft of rope) motorized tow rope setup we used to go back up. While only one uf us needed to hike the line up the hill, it was rare that more than 10% of us were that patient. Usually we would all make the hike up the first time instead of waiting for someone to do it first.
When we didnt have anyone to drive us into the foothills, there was a steep hill with about a 30-40 foot drop from the road into a field about a mile and a half from my suburban neighborhood where kids would go sledding. We kept score for how many runs we would do for bragging rights. 20 trips up that hill was about the same distance but was way harder and hurt so much more the next day than climbing the big hill before the line was set.
I wonder if you can put a pulley on a chainsaw and get the same effect. Nice idea though – would definitely do that next winter!
Id go with a capstan over a pulley. But Id also sooner build a rope tow than an ascender style system. This system would require a motor unit for every person, or waiting for someone to sled down with the motor before you could go up. With a rope tow once youve set your base station, top pulley and rope loop you can send as many people up the hill as your motor can lug, all at once or one at a time.
like this? https://www.madsens1.com/simposon-capstan-rope-winch
I’m going to argue tht The Bat Computer is Batman’s “most utilitarian gadget”.
Tangent: as amazing as Batman is as a model of always having the right tool for the job, maybe it’s time we confront the idea that “rich enough to afford to buy any gadget” is not something that makes someone a role model.
Bruce’s individual actions are certainly heroic.
But the continued maintenance of his fortune, and his willingness to use it, makes Bruce a villain.
Being that rich is inherently evil.
One cannot ‘earn’ that much money. It is skimmed off the labor and lives of the masses, by those with the power to do it. This is especially true for Bruce, since he literally never ‘works’. His money simply “makes more money”.
How much misery is caused to the average worker in the name of making “line go up” so he can keep playing hero?
Perhaps The Bat Card is his most utilitarian gadget…
Leftieman is that you?
Sir, this is a Wendy’s.
This is The Internet.
Every place is appropriate for a discussion of how to fix problems.
Everything a person does is political, because politics happen whenever 2 or more people need to live/work together and there is a difference in opinion.
Politics cannot be ‘Escaped’, and the desire to do so is a political action in itself.
Some of the Batman comics/graphic novels explore the elite/Illuminati-esque past of the Waynes. Look into it if you have a chance. Bruce knows how they got their money and power. He’s using it to do good.
Who’s good? Not all people crushed under rubbles of falling buildings were fans of Joker.
My argument wasn’t that Bruce was doing evil with the money.
He is using it for good deeds.
The problem is that he continues to let his money participate in the investment system, to grow it.
We aren’t talking about a retiree who has money in a 401k and has no choice but to keep participating to put food on the table.
Bruce could live hundreds of lifetimes with the money he has, but chooses to keep participating.
Our current investment system is both unfair, allowing advantages like micro trades and latency based exploitation, and unhealthy because share value now pushes out all other decision making within a company.
Shareholders demanding “line go up” forever, and being able to remove/replace the entire decision making body of a company, is a symptom of systemic failure.
My dude, you do understand that Batman and Bruce are fictional characters from comic books. Go touch grass, seriously.
i think he might’ve overused the word “actually” — but it was better than overuse of the word “literally” — i am literally aggravated by misuse of that word
Greek writers condemned the use of (the greek version of) literally when used figuratively: we’re probably stuck with it. My now ex coworker found a new even more annoying way to use it, as a way to express frustration about things he didn’t want to do. “I am literally going to the doctor this afternoon.”