Watch Skippa the rock-skipping robot get optimized

Andrea James 4:45 am Wed Aug 8, 2018

Skipping stones takes a little practice and finesse, so Mark Rober enlisted his extended family to help build the perfect rock-skipping robot. Their creation, named Skippa, ended up helping humans learn, too.

I built a rock skipping robot with the help of my nieces and nephews to understand the perfect way to skip a rock. In the end we learned that 4 things matter most:

1) Rock angle of 20 degrees
2) Rock PATH angle of 20 degrees
3) Spin the rock as much as possible
4) Choose a rock that is flat on the bottom and as heavy as possible for you to still get to your max arm speed.

• Rock Skip Robot- The SCIENCE of PERFECT ROCK SKIPPING (YouTube / Mark Rober)

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