PROJECT: GARRAHAN

PRS: 1/5 complexity, 4/5 uniqueness, 2/5 scale, 1/5 budget, 4/5 usefulness, total 12/25.

Completion rating: design underway.

Description of project: Project Garrahan acts as my magum opus project. A fully fleshed out suit of Power Armor, modeled after the best suit in Fallout 76, the Mining Suit. Built to withstand bullets and rocks alike, making the user a god amongst men. While I exaggerate the power, I do want to make this a more true-to-life relipca of the in-game model, starting with a aluminum CNC machined frame.

Made of several parts, all held together by fasteners for easy removal, the frame acts as the underarmor for the Power Armor set. It realistically is the hardest part to design and make. While easy-to-replicate models exist, the added weight and complexity of the aluminum shell makes the armor require a more sophisticated movment structure designed around the ability for pressure sensors to detect the force of a arm or leg moving in a certain direction. This will be improved on when I find better ways to do predictive movement.

Now, the movement is one thing, but the complex part lies in the brain. The brain of the operation will not have transparent glasses; instead the head wil use a FPV heads up display and many cameras to provide a wider range of view, and priority camera quality over the sight reticles. There will be a algorithm designed for targeting “live” targets. It will also have the ability to control user interfacing devices using the integrated HUD, which acts alongside continuity testers spread across the plating to show a rough estimate of armor destruction, using resistance. In a use-case scenario, this would act as a way for a operator to control the suit in a slightly more safe way, leaving no gaps for glass and it’s… poor cost-to-safety ratio.

The main power source of this armor is indeterminate currently. While I would like to do a battery powered system, I would also love to see a gas-hydraulic system integration for the mechanics of the movement. I just think they’re neat. While making a full pneumatic system is darn near impossible, the use of pneumatics allows for quick and strong movements while keeping a tighter budget.

To wrap this up, I hope for the armor itself to be made of a molded carbon fiber, or at the least fiberglass, so that it can stay lightweight while looking shiny. And including a thin wire mesh throughout, with regular points of measurement for the testers, would create the “smart skin” of the design.

Editors note: add more onto the end, I’m too tired to finish this now.