The Hacksmith: Iron Man Helmet HUD

2019-04-26 | By The Hacksmith

License: See Original Project Programmers Raspberry Pi SBC

With Avengers: Endgame coming out this week, the Hacksmith team couldn’t resist making another Avengers project. In this episode of Make it Real, the Hacksmith made a real metal Iron Man helmet, complete with an augmented reality heads up display. This particular helmet is a few models behind Tony Stark’s in the movies since the team doesn’t have access to nanotechnology… yet. See how it was made in the video below!

How Was It Made?

To do this, he started out with a replica metal helmet from the Armor Factory. It was already a pretty impressive replica, featuring light-up eyes and a servo-controlled mask, but that isn't good enough for the Hacksmith. To add augmented reality, the Hacksmith used a commercially available near-eye display by Vufine that has an HDMI input. It is pretty small already, but it was designed to clip onto glasses (not fit inside of an Ironman helmet), meaning the Hacksmith had to carefully take it apart to make it fit. With a custom laser-cut adapter, he was able to mount the display to the eye socket inside on the mask. With the display done, it was time to make Jarvis.

The Raspberry Pi Zero is a low cost, credit-card sized computer that uses a standard keyboard, mouse and HDMI display. It is a capable little device that lets you run your own Python scripts, making it the perfect Jarvis to be built right into the helmet. After adding the Pi and loading a custom OS that the Hacksmith named "Friday", it was time to add night vision. To do this, the Hacksmith found a small IR camera that could be mounted next to the near-eye display. The camera is connected to the Pi and then displayed on the HUD. IR is invisible to the human eye, but it works really well for low visual light situations. You can even get an IR flashlight that the IR camera can see but is completely invisible to everyone else. The Raspberry Pi also controls a servo motor that lifts the face mask on and off.

With a Raspberry Pi built in, the Hacksmith will be able to add all sorts of accessories in the future. Some of the planned upgrades include thermal vision, a rearview camera, an A.I. assistant, and speakers.

You can access the Friday OS at Dropbox here: http://bit.ly/FridayOS

Schematic and BOM

More MCU Projects From The Hacksmith on Maker.io

Want to see more Hacksmith projects from the Marvel Cinematic universe? Check out these projects below! Be sure to check out the Youtube channel for even more Marvel projects like several variations of Mjolnir and Stormbreaker, Captain America’s shield, and a functional Iron Man suit.

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