> What part of "I can't wait to see this optimized into a portable version" did you not understand?

The part where you don't need to load into the system at least as much energy (actually a multiple) as you get out of it.

But there are already a lot of simple, portable and lightweight mechanical systems to launch objects at high speeds, and optimised to be loaded by muscle energy: they're called sling, slingshot, bow, crossbow, etc. They have excellent performance. Since air drag is dominant on small projectiles, speed decays exponentially and the range only increases little with more energy. Claude calculates that a bow can double the video's trebuchet at throwing distance because of the arrow's shape and weight, despite shooting at much lower speed and needing about a quarter of the energy input.