[Rafael Mizrahi] built a flight simulator that lets him fly like Ironman. As you can see in the video after the break, the hardware involves an automotive crane, hang gliding harness, plus the wings and tail from a UAV. A giant fan pointed at the wearer allows him to use the wings and tail to maneuver while the Wii remote strapped to his chest tracks the movement and feeds it to Google Earth Flight Simulator which is seen through the head-mounted display. We’re used to seeing intense flight simulators but this is something completely different.
Project J.A.R.V.I.S. is an attempt to create a digital life assistant, or DLA. The name comes from the version in the movie Iron Man. While the details of the build are pretty slim, you can see that he’s using a mac mini for the base with an Arduino controlled RFID reader at his door. What is really interesting is how functional he has actually made it. Watch the video on the site to see a pretty good explanation of features.
There was a time when the notion of powered armor like the set Ironman wears was just science fiction, but that time is gone. So, while the geeks at io9 are still dreaming of the future we’re very much in tune with the work that is being done right now. We’ll go through some of the most impressive powered suits out there after the break.
