The Western Canadian Robot Games are fast approaching, so we're going to help spur on building by reducing the prices of our batteries by half! Get building - you only have less than 2 months to finish!
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).
MORE POSTS
Bug Stomping - Part 2, Solarcells sold o...
We're still undergoing website bug-stomping. You may have noticed some changed news items and the like. One of the edits crashed the page, so we had to reload an older backup. The SCPD photodiodes are now officially sold out! KaPUT! Gone! Until we can find a reasonably priced replacement, we won't be restocking these items […]
YouTube-tastic
Well folks, we don't have any new products to show off today (I guess we're all too busy watching the Olympics...), but we DO have a small handful of recently uploadedYouTube videos to show off. Dave has been sifting through some of our old archive tapes, and pulled out a few gems, like this footage […]
Wednesday Links: Robots, Chocolate and G...
Everything is better with chocolate, even the new links: Self-Folding Paper Robot Inspired by origami paper sculptures and equipped with motor. (Via Beautiful Decay) Edible Chocolate LEGOs Mmmm, best Lego ever. (Via Colossal) Drawing Robot Seen lots of drawing robots before, but this one uses fans to create vacuum and attach itself to the metal […]
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!
Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.
Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.