Make Your Own Hyperion New-U Station From Borderlands 2

The New-U stations in Borderlands 2 are some of the most iconic parts of the game (even if they aren't canon). So, I decided to make one!

this project is pretty simple and will require 0 knowledge of Linux or python (unless you want it to)

it will consist of using a webcam plugged into a raspberry pi to detect motion and play a clip from the game every time you walk by.

Supplies

Mayhaps you'll need:

raspberry pi

micro sd card

rakkahol (to keep your mind off Bloodwing)

USB webcam

monitor w/ HDMI

ethernet (if your pi doesn't have wifi)

some random softwares (listed later)

drywall spackle

paper

Felicia Sexopants' badonkadonks (they got stoled by the bandits a few days ago. Go get 'em!)

acrylic paint

soldering iron (plus solder and flux(if your into that kind of thing))

Step 1: Setup the Pi

yeah, I know you've done this a million times, but I'm gonna show you anyway because SHUT THE HELL UP MORDY!

first up, your gonna need to grab yourself some raspbian. click your fine-ass pointer this-a-way to download it.

wait for it to download, then extract it and burn the .img file to your sd card with win32diskimager.

Step 2: Setup the Pi (cont.)

next, plug in the pi to your monitor, internet, and keyboard and mouse.

the pi should run you through the basic setup process. once you hit the desktop, do the following:

go up to the start menu, slide down to preferences and tap dat "raspberry pi config". change tabs to the "interfaces" section, then enable both VNC and SSH, then reboot your pi.

open the terminal (under accessories in the start menu) and type

 ifconfig

write down the IP address next to "inet".

next, hop back over to your pc and download This program. once it finishes, open the program and add your pi using the inet address you wrote down. you should now be able to use your pi from the comfort of your pc!

Step 3: Setting Up Webcam

within VNC, type the command:

sudo apt-get install rpi-update

once it finishes, type the command

rpi-update

(from here on, if there are two lines of code: run the first, wait for it to finish, then run the second)

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

make sure your webcam is plugged into the pi, then run:

sudo apt-get install fswebcam

fswebcam test.jpg

this installs webcam prerequisites and takes a test picture.

open the file manager, and open "test.jpg"

Step 4: Setting Up Motion Detection

motion is a program designed for personal security, enabling you to use a webcam and pi as if it was a CCTV system. we will be using it to detect motion and start a python script when it does.

sudo apt-get install motion

once this finishes, open the config file with:

sudo nano /etc/motion/motion.conf

the first option you should see is "daemon", within this section, change "daemon off" to "daemon on"

next, press Ctrl+W to search the document, and type:

event_gap

change the default 60 to a more badass 6 (you can make this whatever you want, but this worked for me)

press Ctrl+x, press y, then hit enter to save your work

Step 5: Making a Random Audio Script

the next step is to get motion to play the New-U voice clips when it detects motion. unfortunately, it can't do that, so we have to make it trigger python for this.

instead of teaching you how to code, imma just let you download the simple script here and transfer the file through VNC

your welcome, shorty

move it to

/home/pi

(default folder when you open the file browser)

make sure it's named:

rvoice.py

Step 6: Make Motion Trigger This Script

once rvoice.py is saved to /home/pi, you can make motion activate it. go back into motion.conf with

sudo nano /etc/motion/motion.conf

again, press Ctrl+W to search, and type:

on_event_start

delete the semicolon and space at the beginning of the line.

then delete the word "value" and replace it with

/usr/bin/python /home/pi/rvoice.py

Step 7: Add Audio Files

all of your audio files must be in the Pi's default music folder (/home/pi/Music)

you can put any audio you want in the file, so it could play borderlands the pre sequel audio clips, random voice clips from cl4p-tp, add an alarm sound and make a simple motion activated alarm. or even add a song for Mordecai's stupid bird (in E minor).

I have all the Borderlands 2 main storyline New-U voice clips (i couldn't find any from the DLC)

you can download all 52 of them here.

if you want some other sound files, this Reddit post can help.

Step 8: Make Motion Start Automatically

open that beautiful terminal once again and shove this code down its throat:

sudo systemctl enable motion

and that should be it! just reboot, and it will start automatically. (warning, this can take a while, so just wait like, one to five minutes tops after you plug her in) you can check if motion is running with:

ps -aux | grep motion

if it doesn't start automatically, find another script online and ill add it to the article

Step 9: Make the Webcam More Compact

I disassembled my webcam as far as I could get it, then smashed the plastic case off with a hammer the rest of the way.

next, I planned out where I wanted the webcam to go when fully assembled

Step 10: Shorten the Cable

I then cut the cables to a more reasonable length and stripped the wires.

I resoldered each wire and protected it with hyperion-issued e-tape. I threw on some heat shrink tubing and plugged the wires back into the webcam.

Step 11: Make a Case

I made the simplest, ugliest box ever made out of 1/8 inch plywood, then I cut a hole for the camera and another on the side for power, video, and audio.

I tried to make this box as small as possible, leaving almost no room inside the box, so I ended up needing to drill holes for the aux cord to weave around.

Step 12: Wire in a Speaker

I used WAY too big of a speaker for this box, I ended up needing to use a router to mill out some space for it.

I took apart an old Bluetooth pod speaker and harvested the amp circuit and driver.

I looked into using the gpio pins for audio output, but couldn't figure it out, so instead, I will have power coming from gpio, and audio coming from the aux port.

to wire the speaker into the pi, I desoldered the Li-ion battery from the amp circuit and wired the positive and ground into gpio pins 04 & 06 respectively (see pic above).

next, I used some of my professional Tetris training to JAM EVERYTHING INTO THE BOX.

Step 13: De-crapify It

I threw some drywall spackle to fill the gaps in the finger joints, then sanded them flat once it dried.

then I mixed some more spackle with water and smeared it all over the place, then put paper over it. I push the air bubbles out and let it dry.

the next day, I wiped on 4-5 coats of some satin polyurethane, this gave it a hard shell so the paper wouldn't crinkle while painting

not only does this look straight out of Tina's workshop, but it leaves us a perfectly flat and white surface to start painting.

Step 14: Make It Look Less Like a Bomb

As amazing as the whole C4 look is, I didn't want to get arrested with it soooooooo:

I cut up a 2x4 the same size as the brick and practiced the paint on that first.

I added some Hyperion yellow to the whole thing and drew my design on the face. I used handsome Jack's real face as color inspiration for the vault symbol.

I took it slow, and painted a deep blue for the edges, then moved over to a lighter blue, and finally an almost neon blue for highlights, then I let them dry overnight.

next, I took a toothpick and painted the Hyperion logo in black.

Step 15: DONE!!

Now shove that onto a wall like a shiv into a truxicans sternum! (sorry, old crimson lance saying).

this was a proof of concept for me, I plan on making a full sized, automated, moving version in the future, but that's for future me to work on.

Now, get back out there, and show 'em what for.

I left IO open on the pi in case of software problems.

I've noticed an error where Motion will stop recognizing movement after so many triggers, and plan to write a simple code to have it auto reboot the program every few hours to solve it (it's not stupid if it works).