Advacnded action suit mark 2!
I'm kidding...
No, before you say anything, I'm not intending on making anything at all like what that was supposed to be. This isn't intended to be a mega awesome military worthy battle suit with gadgets and can fly (like, you know, Iron Man). What I'm trying to make is basically an armoured exoskeleton. Still sounds ridiculous? Well, ok, let me clarify. When I say armoured, I don't mean like Iron Man. It's not intended to be bullet proof or anything like that. Really, what I mean is covered, like the difference between C3PO in The Phantom Menace and in the following films. That's what I mean when I say "armoured." However, I am planning on using real metal (aluminium, to be precise). I've currently got enough for the front half of the torso, in the form of uneven rectangles (which I got from about 10 hard drives).
Now onto the exoskeleton. This is simply meant to work. It's not meant to be Iron Man level strength on anything close to that, obviously. It's simply meant to work, and as long as the mechanics and electronics work at all, it will increase my strength, however slightly. To put it simply, (using an example of just how one arm is going to work) there will be several motors along my upper arm, attached to a wire which is attached to the base(ish) of my forearm. The motors will pull the wire, thus pulling the forearm, just like how a muscle works.
Now I bet you're wondering how I'm going to actually control the exoskeleton. That's quite simple. There's going to be a pressure switch on the forearm, so when I push against the inside of the suit, the circuit will be completed and current goes to the motors, therefore pulling the forearm, helping me. However, I'm going to have some padding over the pressure switch, so it'll only be activated when I press enough, meaning I'll be able to move my arm freely without the motors activating. Only when I meet with resistance will the motors activate, meaning I'll only get help from them when I actually need it. I also might have it so that the more I press, the more electricity goes to the motors. But that might be a little complicated to do, so I certainly won't do that for the first prototype.
The good thing about this is, even if the motors are really weak, they will still increase my strength. You see, they won't be taking over from my strength. They'll be helping me, so it will be a matter of my strength + the strength of the motors, regardless of how weak they are.
However, of course, I want the exoskeleton to be reasonably strong. Not military-esque exoskeleton strong, obviously. But just powerful enough so I could happily say "yes, I built a working exoskeleton!"
So, does anyone have any suggestions for motors I could use? They need to be powerful rather than fast, of course, but they also need to be cheap. Seriously, I'm a major cheapskate. Probably one of the biggest on this site. Also, I'd appreciate it if someone could think of gadgets I could take motors from, rather than just buying them separately. For instance, to get the two motors for my web shooters, I took apart two remote control cars I already had from years ago, so that cost me nothing. And I've also taken apart motors from dead hard drives.
But if you can't think of anything like that, it doesn't matter. As long as the motors are quite cheap, I'm happy.
I'm kidding...
No, before you say anything, I'm not intending on making anything at all like what that was supposed to be. This isn't intended to be a mega awesome military worthy battle suit with gadgets and can fly (like, you know, Iron Man). What I'm trying to make is basically an armoured exoskeleton. Still sounds ridiculous? Well, ok, let me clarify. When I say armoured, I don't mean like Iron Man. It's not intended to be bullet proof or anything like that. Really, what I mean is covered, like the difference between C3PO in The Phantom Menace and in the following films. That's what I mean when I say "armoured." However, I am planning on using real metal (aluminium, to be precise). I've currently got enough for the front half of the torso, in the form of uneven rectangles (which I got from about 10 hard drives).
Now onto the exoskeleton. This is simply meant to work. It's not meant to be Iron Man level strength on anything close to that, obviously. It's simply meant to work, and as long as the mechanics and electronics work at all, it will increase my strength, however slightly. To put it simply, (using an example of just how one arm is going to work) there will be several motors along my upper arm, attached to a wire which is attached to the base(ish) of my forearm. The motors will pull the wire, thus pulling the forearm, just like how a muscle works.
Now I bet you're wondering how I'm going to actually control the exoskeleton. That's quite simple. There's going to be a pressure switch on the forearm, so when I push against the inside of the suit, the circuit will be completed and current goes to the motors, therefore pulling the forearm, helping me. However, I'm going to have some padding over the pressure switch, so it'll only be activated when I press enough, meaning I'll be able to move my arm freely without the motors activating. Only when I meet with resistance will the motors activate, meaning I'll only get help from them when I actually need it. I also might have it so that the more I press, the more electricity goes to the motors. But that might be a little complicated to do, so I certainly won't do that for the first prototype.
The good thing about this is, even if the motors are really weak, they will still increase my strength. You see, they won't be taking over from my strength. They'll be helping me, so it will be a matter of my strength + the strength of the motors, regardless of how weak they are.
However, of course, I want the exoskeleton to be reasonably strong. Not military-esque exoskeleton strong, obviously. But just powerful enough so I could happily say "yes, I built a working exoskeleton!"
So, does anyone have any suggestions for motors I could use? They need to be powerful rather than fast, of course, but they also need to be cheap. Seriously, I'm a major cheapskate. Probably one of the biggest on this site. Also, I'd appreciate it if someone could think of gadgets I could take motors from, rather than just buying them separately. For instance, to get the two motors for my web shooters, I took apart two remote control cars I already had from years ago, so that cost me nothing. And I've also taken apart motors from dead hard drives.
But if you can't think of anything like that, it doesn't matter. As long as the motors are quite cheap, I'm happy.
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