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Mark Rober's microscopic Nerf blaster created by BYU engineers
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In engineer Mark Rober’s latest viral video, he pursues an epic journey to make the world’s tiniest Nerf nano-blaster. That journey to a world record leads the YouTube star straight to his alma mater: Brigham Young University. Creating such a working device on a nanoscale was a gargantuan task for BYU engineers, who pushed the limits of compliant mechanisms technology to make it happen.

Rober, who already holds the world record for the largest Nerf blaster, issued the challenge to BYU engineers nearly a year ago. The resulting blaster, highlighted in Rober's Sept. 30 YouTube video "World's Smallest Nerf Gun Shoots an Ant," is so small it can only be fired using a micro-manipulator (that's used in surgery).

Since the proposed blaster was too small to be built with springs and screws (like a traditional Nerf gun), Rober sought help from BYU's Compliant Mechanisms Research Group, which has designed everything from giant folding solar arrays for NASA to tiny medical devices. Since compliant mechanisms are generally made with one piece of material, and can be scaled up or down and maintain their function, BYU researchers were able to design a one-piece blaster prototype and then scale it down, using carbon nanotubes to fabricate the smallest devices.

Rober, who graduated from BYU in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, collaborated with his former professor, Larry Howell, on the Nerf blaster project. Howell, author of the most cited engineering book on compliant mechanisms, and his research team are known for origami-inspired mechanisms that bend and fold in unique ways and have broad engineering applications.

The final result of the BYU collaboration, shared with more than 25 million @MarkRober subscribers, is a microscopic Nerf blaster suitable for an ant or a ladybug Nerf battle. But, as BYU students learned, the insects show little interest in the technology.

For free maker files of the Nerf blaster and other devices, see compliantmechanisms.byu.edu
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BYU, Brigham Young University, students
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