In a class called Design Nature, our first project was to create a "hopper". The goal was to create a hopper that used stored potential energy to launch itself into the air. We had a limited list of materials to use, had to have a delay of .5 seconds from release to its jump, and had to base its jumping mechanism off that of an animal. The animal I chose was a springtail (pictured below).
Image sourced from https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/springtail
A key feature of the springtail's jump is that it spins rapidly in mid-air. I attempted to mimic this and aimed to have my hopper spin just as the insect does. I aimed to add a design in the form of an optical illusion to the side of the hopper that came to life when it successfully spun. Hence its name, "Hoptical Illusion".
Below are images of some of the prototypes and steps in the process of creating my final hopper:
