At the University of Waterloo in Ontario engineering design professor John McPhee has created a hockey robot that can send pucks flying at the speed of 110 miles per hour. The SlpShot XT is capable of breaking the record of Boston Bruins Captain Zdeno Chara whose fastest slapshot record rests at 105.9 miles per hour.
The SlpShot XT: Image Credit: Hockey Robotics
The robot which was created by Hockey Robotics is a two armed robot that can repeatedly send pucks flying through the air. Too bad it can’t skate yet. The puck smasher was developed to test the strength of hockey sticks. The broken sticks have been a problem at games ever since composite sticks were introduced.
The SlapShot XT is similar to the robots that golf club makers use to test their products. However since it uses two arms to hold the hockey stick it is a bit more complex than the golf club testing robots. The design includes a gear, sprocket and a belt system to hit the pucks in to the net.
Professor McPhee said that they had partnered with stick maker Sherbrook SBK Hockey to test new materials and construction techniques. The project in question will yield data on stick dynamics. They are also working with Integram Technologies to help strengthen the sticks using a nano metal.