We know we don't have anything directly related to RoboSapiens (other than gear motors), but as we're tight with Mr. Tilden, and he's the father of BEAM technology, it's always worthwhile to report useful bits about him. There's presently an interview with him at you-review.com - take a boo! (Then come back and do more […]
Iron Man & Solarbotics at Comic Exp...
Solar botics
June 30, 2016
We often work with people with very interesting projects. This time, it's an impressive Iron Man MkIII costume build, by Phillip Vatour of Calgary.
Phillip had come into our offices one day and said: "You might be interested in seeing what I've been building with the stuff I buy here...". He pulled out his phone and handed over his photo gallery. Flip..."Nice Iron Man gauntlet" ....flip..."Nice Arc reactor" ...flip... "HOLY CRAP - that's a video of a functional visor-flipping helmet!"
We were so impressed by his build, we invited Phillip and his family to the 2016 Calgary Comic Expo as a keynote display at the Solarbotics booth. He'd spend several hours each day, suiting up and posing for photos, while explaining his build. He's one of a handful of builders in the world with such a fully-featured Iron Man costume, so we were very happy to work with him at the show. We were very happy to arrange a photo-op with Stan Lee (creator of the "Iron Man" character), as this was to be Mr. Lee's last Comic Expo appearance. Mr. Lee was apparently quite impressed by the quality of the suit, as were his staff attending the photo op.
What's particularly notable about Phillip's efforts is that he doesn't rent out his time or make paid appearances. He volunteers for the Make-a-Wish foundation and the Calgary Children's Hospital, making appearances as Iron Man for the kids. We were happy to help out by promoting a donation bucket to help Phillip pay for ongoing costume upgrades and maintenance (apparently Iron Man costume molds aren't cheap!).
Phillip designed the costume to have quite an array of features, which are fairly independent of each other. A tech-costume of this complexity can often have some failures, so this design allows the majority of the suit to stay functional if a single element is damaged. Of course, this means there's a multitude of batteries to maintain, and Phillip has a full check-list to cover during suit-up and servicing.
We produced an informational flyer we gave out at the show, available here as a pdf (Ironman Phillip Vautour information sheet).
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With the departure of our two interns, we're finding that we miss them. Damn them and their desire to complete their education... Since they left, we're finding we have too many projects and not enough hands to get them done. Got some/any of the following qualifications? Practical experience with sensors Experience with 8-bit embedded computing […]
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Zee Ultimate Solar Mobile...
I had been giving some advice to Mark Malmberg about some art he's been putting together. Wanna see a killer huge solar-powered hanging mobile? From the builder himself: This piece has been a test piece and learning experience. I'll show it in a couple of months at a place called the Lawrence Hall of Science […]
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Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.