Comuter Systems For Master Chief Suit

[KevlarSpartan]

Im thinking about adding a computer system to my build of the Mk VI suit. Originally i was going to go with this:



- 320GB Portable HDD with either MS-DOS or Windows XP installed



- Simple motherboard, probs just some old ASUS one



- 3.3GHz Processor (Single Core, or Dual-Core is the motherboard supports it)



- Simple Power Box and all the other bits to get it going



- My screen would be a specially shaped LED screen (which would also be the visor)



I was thinking of using real-time cameras as a way of seeing the outside world. But i'd like to know what the rest of the forum thinks about this?



Cheers!

 

[Gixxer]

err.. what for ?? and it will add alot of weight .. how about the battery then ? about the OS, XP with a carpc program will do ?

 

[FrostyTheSnowMan]

it sounds like a realy good idea, except fitting the setup into the suit would be quite a big challenge, maybe an odst suit with the backback would do, or a MKVI with custom pack. but it would get extremely heavy if u are carrying it around all day. then u got the issue of cooling as computers do get very hot.

 

[rhaiyszkie]

i think it'll be cool to see that come to reality... but i think the MKVI is not suited for that kind of setup... i'd go with Jorge's reach armor it's bulky and lots of room for your setup... just an idea though... :cool

 

[Minkyboi]

sounds like a good idea but also consider heating issues. armor gets hot very easily and adding computer components is just gonna add to that

 

[AceHigh]

If you do go forward with the idea, make sure that you have a camera pointing backwards as well. Having a 360° field of sight would be wicked.

 

[Yayu]

Really like the idea using a camera as a means of vision to the outside. It's always something that I've always wanted to use for masks and helmets that have visibility issues like say Olga's exoskeleton from Sons of Liberty. I'll be watching this in hopes you make any strides in this project, good luck.

 

[DreamHazard]

I've thought about this a lot myself, if you use a laptop motherboard, you should be able to fit it into the chest or back plate, but you may need to increase the size of the armour slightly. If you're making a power box, you could control any lights you got through the same system



I'd probably install linux in there rather than windows, that way you can buy a cheaper system, it's not like you'll need all that HDD space either, unless you're planning on playing Halo while you're in there...



I think it'd be pretty cool if you could get maybe a bluetooth camera, some form of wireless anyway, and mount it in an BR or Sniper scope, magnification and all, and have the ability to use the scope on the rifle through the visor...



Perhaps you could glom the LCD from a netbook, that should be about the right size to fit in the helmet.



The only problem I can see is being able to focus on a screen that close to your face. TV glasses may help here, putting them on before the helmet. This way, you could have a completely blacked out visor, and so you could make it from any material.



Reading back over your post, you've opted to put it into an existing MKVI, do you have any pics of where you intend to place the workings?



Just throwing ideas at you here, if you don't like them, it makes no difference, if you do, wey hey!

 

[SirPalesAlot]

If you go with standard desktop parts, I see the issue of powering it becoming an issue....if you used laptop parts you would probably end up with a much smaller setup to put into your suit, and you could also utilize the battery from the laptop...the only thing you would have to do is wire your viewing device to the MB of the laptop...which, Im sure there are tutorials online that can show you how. Other than that, the only other issue i see is getting a screen setup into your helmet that wont cost a fortune, or damage your eyes. If you manage to round up all the parts and you think it wont cost you a fortune then I would say go for it....the concept is very doable, but getting what you may imagine it all to be like could be the hard part....if only they would hurry up and make those flexible screens available to the public at a reasonable price...then you would be good...lol....getting a pair of tv glasses may be a route to go, but I know no one who has owned a pair so I dont know if they are any good. If you do decide to continue I hope it all works out well for you....it would def. be something cool to see....playing halo, while in full MKVI...hmmm...lol....I would do it.

 

[Zero Prime]

This is a great idea i was going to do the same thing with my armor but depending on what you want to do it is very hard imean the miliary JUST got compuerized armor working and their are still lots of bugs don't get me rong it is a great idea but it would be a pain in the neck the same problems they have you have Weight, Power, over heating, and using the HUD (they have baraly got)

do continue i'd love to see the outcome of this progect.

 

[Trigger]

I'd probably install linux in there rather than windows, that way you can buy a cheaper system, it's not like you'll need all that HDD space either, unless you're planning on playing Halo while you're in there...

I totally agree with linux mainly because linux is FREE. I've heard of cameras and I'm saddened cause I can't find what they were but they have an extremely low power wireless transmission supposedly they can run on just AAs for a pretty long time. Wish i could find what they were... lol All I know is that it's so low power cause it doesn't check packet loss or something like that I forget.



Oh, and it's alllllll about the OLED screens man.

 

[JayMay]

I've though about this on my war machine armor build. Here are some ideas that might help.

Get a laptop or net book off ebay with a broken screen, I'll be cheaper and your not going to

use the screen anyways. As far as a HUD display go with TV goggles(cheaper), or better yet

(not cost efficient yet I think) an OEL display.

As far as a camera goes make sure it centered on the helmet or your depth perception will be

really screwed up.

I've even thought about getting a brain wave controller for the computer, still a little pricey and

you need quite a bit of processing power to make it work. I think this one requires a 3 Ghz

processor. This might be something more for a war machine or Iron man armor as you could

hook up Servo controllers to the laptop and control things like opening the faceplate, missile

pods opening or anything else via the headset.



Just some ideas, I'll be interested to see how you integrate it into a HALO suit.



Cheers,



Jay

 

[DreamHazard]

This is a great idea i was going to do the same thing with my armor but depending on what you want to do it is very hard imean the miliary JUST got compuerized armor working and their are still lots of bugs don't get me rong it is a great idea but it would be a pain in the neck the same problems they have you have Weight, Power, over heating, and using the HUD (they have baraly got)

do continue i'd love to see the outcome of this progect.

Now here's the thing, the military are using these for mass-produced, battle ready systems, whereas in a Mjolnir build, there's little need for it to actually work, short of the camera.



Linux can be installed to have an incredibly small memory footprint, which would help with getting the system running smoothly.



It would be even better with having an unsecured hidden wireless network to attach the camera, then there'd be no overhead in the packets, faster transmission for smoother video, and less power needed per packet...

 

[guido666]

What do you plan to have the computer doing? You've said "cameras", but are you planning to just have the cameras feed to screens in the visor, or are you planning to do some sort of processing on the video?



I've done a lot a work with OpenCV, making a paintball turret that would track targets with a webcam and then shoot at them automagically. It was pretty processing intense, but is no problem for desktop-class CPUs. The issue becomes when you try to use smaller, lower power consumption CPUs and hardware. My original prototypes used a netbook, which did ok. I then moved down to robot systems, finally settling on the RoBoard. The main issue with the RoBoard was only having 256MB of RAM, which makes some of the larger matrix transformations on the image stream bog down. It will feed straight streams fine, though. And the size and power consumption are perfect for what you're doing.



As for a custom shaped LED screen, I'm not sure how feasible that is. LCD screens are not very happy about being warped, shaped, or bent. You can touch one too see why. (There are two types of screens commonly called "LED" screens, one of which is big "JumboTron" screens that are really made up of lots of RGB LEDs, and ones you buy as TVs and computer monitors which are LCD screens that are edge lit or back lit by LED lights instead of cold cathod tubes.) Could you get by with wearing some video goggles under the helmet instead?

What are you using the computer for? You basically said "I want to put a computer in, here's the specs". What's the plan? What are you using the 320GB of HDD space for? It's hard to provide much feedback without knowing what it's for. What would you be running DOS?

 

[bankz5152]

This sounds very very cool.



I dont think youd need 320gig, more like 80gb would surfice. Would give you about 70gig of free space after you install the stuff you need.



I like the idea of the video glasses, although that might be very disorentating. As they 'create a screen' around 101".

 

[JayMay]

I've done a lot a work with OpenCV, making a paintball turret that would track targets with a webcam and then shoot at them automagically. It was pretty processing intense, but is no problem for desktop-class CPUs. The issue becomes when you try to use smaller, lower power consumption CPUs and hardware. My original prototypes used a netbook, which did ok. I then moved down to robot systems, finally settling on the RoBoard. The main issue with the RoBoard was only having 256MB of RAM, which makes some of the larger matrix transformations on the image stream bog down. It will feed straight streams fine, though. And the size and power consumption are perfect for what you're doing.

I've been thinking about doing an autotrack for the mini gun on War Machine and didn't know this was available. Awesome!

 

[guido666]

I've been thinking about doing an autotrack for the mini gun on War Machine and didn't know this was available. Awesome!

It's a pain. You could probably do it well enough to make the War Machine gun seem alive pretty easily. But when you're actually trying to make it engage targets, all sorts of other problem-factors come into play (deceleration of the paintball, trajectory of the paintball, perspective view / distance to target, determining speed and leading moving targets, etc.).



OpenCV is a great way to do it though, and includes a lot of tools to drastically simplify the task.



I eventually stopped working on it, because perfecting it to the point where it could accurately track and engage targets more than about 20 yards away was just taking way too much time. It worked best close in, where there was a more direct point-shoot relationship to engaging targets, and before the flight time of the paintball introduced significant other complications.

 

[Bovine13]

Here is a vid of a project one our members over at the Lair has been working on. Give him a shout he can point you in the right direction.

 

[JangoFett140]

i was going to use parts from 2 old phones i had the problem is how close your eyes can focus on it comfortably for long periods. for me the screen had to be outside the visor. they could have been closer but after a day with them that close my eyes would have been totally shot.

 

[thatdecade]

This is the closest I have seen to a proper display. Have a look.

http://www.umpcportal.com/2009/07/awesome-wearable-computer-setup-is-powered-by-sony-vaio-ux-umpc/