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Iron man- is he possible?

Hi. I was watching the iron man movie recently when I wondered if it really was possible to construct a suit of Armour like that. All technology behind the Armour welcome to be discussed. Any attempts made to make any of the technology would be nice to know about. thank you

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Heavenzdark says: May 5, 2012. 10:04 PM
You do not need goggles, What you need is alot of money. Look up Corning: a day made of glass. Extremely expensive but will provide Thermal, Be able to Identify and lock targets (allready used in the military) and everything you will need to see out of. But in order to see whats in front of you, you are going to need 1-3 camaras to capture live footage around you. like this. this is the left side of your cam^ This is the Helmet O The Cam would be mounted and protected on the Left side of your Helmet.(by the way I'm just explaining where I would mount them where i think I would need visual contact. so all together <>^O^<> (The <> are the shoulders) I would want the mini cams to be as close to my ears as possible because for 1, They will act as my eyes, and for 2, Cams give out audeo as well. Both things you would need for the corning glass in front of your eyes (Cams and glass protected ofcourse incase you take a punch in The head lol) Now another thing brought to my attention is With the corning glass so small for your eyes, it would be like a extremely mini flat screen t.v lol Located all over the center part of corning glass is everything you need to program etc .... YOU would need a freaking microscope, alot of time, and a mini pin pointer to program it the way you want. The way it talks to you, what you want to see etc.. A microscope now??? come on! 2nd idea. The actual size they sell corning glass in, worked on to meet your needs, then downloaded into a miniture size of corning glass fit your Your eyes. Now do you see why i said you need a butt load of money? Tony starks is a genius and has a butt load of money lol which is why he is able to do what they portray him to do =D I may not be a genius but I love Technology ^^ I allready know how to put l.e.d lights inside a suit of armor i made :) Took a base ball bat to it and didnt brake :) thank god for bondo and fiberglass and padding ;P The suits i make though got nothing on what i want to do though. But as i said. You want the good stuff you are going to need to make friends with bill gates XD
ghostrider2 says: Dec 18, 2009. 8:43 PM
another thing im working on is the hud system, trying to make it work with a pair of those computer screen goggles, with a built in camera to make normal vision possible through the goggles as well as enhanced vision(zoom), as well as integrating laptop hardware into the system to make it work using speech recognition.  its just a concept, but i have worked out the details in my mind.  the idea is sound, i just need to incorporate it.
livingthecreed says: Apr 30, 2012. 8:35 AM
easy ghost rider, id love to converse on the topic of your HUD system, im currently working on my own design which also utilises augmented reality and object recognition to aid in high speed manouvers, i could give you a hand with the speach recognition, could just butcher the code from the android assistant on the android market. hope to hear from you soon.
jamestdashmore@hotmail.co.uk
livingthecreed says: Apr 30, 2012. 8:30 AM
the iron man suit is cirtainly possible but with current tech you would only be able to achieve a tier 10 grade armor because of the limits or the power source, the iron man suit in the first film is a tier 11 device because of the arc reactor, without it you can only hope to reach teir 10 but in the day and age such power is not needed, the only problem i have encountered is with the flight system but using agas turbine design i have developed, a variation of an afterburning thruster, you could acchieve flight but not mach speeds. if anyone out there would like to join me in developeing these devices please contact me at jamestdashmore@hotmail.co.uk

just a note, the solar capture idea is a great one and would be a massive enhancement to the powering of such devices, a warrior of light kinda thing, i also have a feeling that radient energy capture would be ideal for such applications,

time to go big or go home.
ghostrider2 says: Nov 29, 2011. 9:10 PM
I believe it could technically be possible. the power source wouldnt exactly be like the one in the movie, but, for continuous use, would need solar powered battery cells located around the armor. from my research, I think the repulsors may really be ion propulsion engines, which are currently being developed for long distance space travel. the mechanical systems would likely be hydraulic, judging from the occasional leak of fluid you see in the movie during combat. in short, with enough time, yes.
thejackpot says: Aug 28, 2010. 11:26 AM
the iron man suit could be made if you can get the arc reactor it would just be a matter for the rest of the suit to be made you could use nuclear jets to power and titanium carbon carbon (look it up its real) instead of the gold titanium alloy
billo104 says: Mar 26, 2009. 8:11 PM
ever heard of the XOS exoskeleton?
ghostrider2 says: Jun 23, 2010. 3:21 AM
it looks like he's using high powered pneumatic actuators for the joints
mettaurlover says: Jul 5, 2010. 12:19 AM
Specially designed hydraulics, actually. I read the article.
HP psc 2110 all-in-one makebot (author) says: Mar 27, 2009. 11:34 AM
no, what is it?
billo104 says: Mar 27, 2009. 8:48 PM
its a body exoskeleton, that can let you lift weights till your bored. It can help you run, jump and everything else you would need to do if you were iron man, except for lasers and flying. If you want to know more, try google. I'm sure there is something that completely explains it.
HP psc 2110 all-in-one makebot (author) says: May 9, 2009. 10:42 AM
I checked it out. it looks good.
xarlock667 says: May 24, 2010. 10:35 AM
Arc reactor could be a simple plasma reactor miniaturized that recycles its own fuel. The mechanics of the suit are relatively simple, you have an exoskeleton with powered joints. Movement could be achieved with high torque servo motors. Again, not hard to do.

The suit in the movie was a gold titanium alloy. Could be done, but would be overtly expensive, Lets cut that to simple aluminum, or steel, or titanium. All easily had, but some hard to work with. We will ignore working for the moment, and just look at properties. The suit needs to be heavy to do what was shown. Aluminum and titanium are light, so we will drop them from the mix. Steel it is! A cubic inch of steel, depending on type, weighs about .283 lbs./ cu. in.That may not seem like a lot, but you can easily expect 300+ pounds for the skeleton/suit itself.

The base armor design is pretty simple, now you just have to power it. I don't have a hole in my chest to place a power source, so a pack of some kind will have to be made. Nothing exotic, just a fuel cell, turbine, or other multi-fuel generator. That will provide plenty of zappy juice.

Now the HUD is an issue. Someone commented earlier that they were using goggles with screens inside attached to cameras. I think that is a great idea, but you need several cameras. Standard, thermal, IR, and perhaps a low grade x-ray fluroscope. (No, I would not like to stand in front of this suit.)

Apart from weapons, that about covers it. Now can we move this from discussion to prototype?
yusuf786 says: Jan 2, 2010. 6:15 AM
Yup Its Possible And They Have Created One. But It Cant Shoot Lasers Or Missiles. Its Just A Start Off For The Invention. Its Called Powered Exoskeleton. It Is Used As An Armor And Can Lift Really Heavy Weights. I Found This In Wikipedia. Look Up In It...!   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powered_exoskeleton
Zaphod Beeblebrox says: Oct 4, 2009. 6:21 AM
it is i read an article on a guuy who didit somewhere
lemonie says: Oct 4, 2009. 1:42 PM
Were you bored today? Anyway - can you find this article? L
Zaphod Beeblebrox says: Oct 4, 2009. 2:39 PM
i forgot what it was in i think pop sci but i am not sure i found it in the library 7 or so months ago when i was bored i dont know but they had a pic of it and everything.it was cool.
lemonie says: Oct 4, 2009. 2:57 PM
Pop Sci eh? I'm not too confident that it was an article on something having been achieved, rather a tie-in to something that was in some way related?

L
Zaphod Beeblebrox says: Oct 4, 2009. 4:35 PM
that was just a guess i dont remember exactly i forgot what mag it was
guyfrom7up says: Dec 19, 2008. 7:13 AM
all of the lifting and superhuman strength is possible (I was going to do my right arm as a proof of conecpt, but it'd cost about 175 to do, so I didn't. I'd be able to lift up to 300 pounds with just my right arm (well, it'd probably lift me instead of the object, but you get the point). Screen is possible Rockets, not really, balance and fuel would be a problem.
Keith-Kid says: May 9, 2009. 6:10 PM
175 what?
HP psc 2110 all-in-one makebot (author) says: Dec 21, 2008. 12:23 PM
by screen do you mean the display thing inside the armors helmet?
guyfrom7up says: Dec 22, 2008. 5:24 AM
yep
HP psc 2110 all-in-one makebot (author) says: Dec 22, 2008. 10:07 AM
so something like a heads up display from that BMW would do the trick. or maybe a set of VR goggles.
abadfart says: Oct 2, 2009. 10:15 AM
ya its just a hud
westfw says: Dec 20, 2008. 12:02 AM
TV/Movies tend to be especially weak on things like "gee, if the arm can lift 300lbs, I guess it would be a good idea for the shoulder and spine to be able to hold up 300lbs as well", not to mention the usual "How come Steve Austin can reach up and pull the girder down, instead of being lifted up himself?" - that is, even if you allow the "magic technology" of the powered armor to work as needed, the feats shown are STILL impossible for very basic reasons. The books tend to be a lot better, sometimes. The other big but boring problem is waste heat. Even at impossible levels of efficiency, the fraction of "waste heat" being emitted by the power source, and whatever engine is in use, would end up cooking the equipment's host...
kelseymh says: Dec 19, 2008. 4:59 PM
all of the lifting and superhuman strength is possible (I was going to do my right arm as a proof of conecpt, but it'd cost about 175 to do, so I didn't. I'd be able to lift up to 300 pounds with just my right arm (well, it'd probably lift me instead of the object, but you get the point).

Recall the (fictional) powersuits from Aliens, and various existing exoskeleton research projects. The problem you describe is common to many of them, and is just a matter of relative inertia. If you try to do an extended-arm lift of some heavy object (like a car), balancing the forces means that the power suit is going to lift you, using the heavy object as an anchor point.

You could use a powersuit to "lift with bent knees" an object straight up. In that case, the suits is just pushing you down "into" the ground, so you have an external anchor point.

For the rockets, the Iron Man suit "should have" had some sort of fuel tank. It probably would have looked like he was wearing scuba gear. But since that's not how the comic was drawn...
HP psc 2110 all-in-one makebot (author) says: Dec 21, 2008. 12:22 PM
you could use some kind of counter weight system to counter act the force, e.g. if you lift from the front, the suit pumps some mercury? to the back of the suit to counter act it. you would have the problem of being very! heavy, so the flight problem comes back in.
Goodhart says: Dec 19, 2008. 9:59 PM
Part of this is what I tried to say on my Dec 19, 2008. 9:29 AM post :-) albeit not so clearly...
Kiteman says: Dec 19, 2008. 5:07 PM
No, it's the arc-reactor.

It's probably plain air, super-heated to a plasma by the reactor - remember, Thunderbirds 1 & 2 have nuclear-powered jets, so all you need to do for the suit is replace the large fusion-reactors used by the Traceys with Stark's small arc-reactor.

And I typed all that like it was really real. You can so tell it's 1am here...
Keith-Kid says: May 9, 2009. 6:12 PM
ROFL!!!!
HP psc 2110 all-in-one makebot (author) says: Dec 21, 2008. 12:15 PM
there is a type of nuclear reactor that uses thoron (or something) as the fuel. the thoron is stable so it can be stored and a small amount of the reactors power is used to run a super colider to de-stabalise the fuel for the reaction. if that is how the film did it, it would explain the small EM coils on the first ark reactor, the start up power drain (when stark turns on the reactor the cave goes dark and the lights flicker) and it would explain why stark could handle the fuel with out protection. the ark reactor could also be a nuclear salt battery I suppose.
kelseymh says: Dec 19, 2008. 5:24 PM
Oh, a miniature ramjet! Yes, I suspect that's possible, except remember that the small arc-reactor doesn't have a through-going nozzle: it's embedded in Stark's chest, with cabling to supply power for the electromagnet keeping the shrapnel out of his heart (movie only, not comic, I think).

You probably could divert some of the power for a ramjet, but the efficiency wouldn't be good -- and it wouldn't work at all from a standing start (ramjets rely on the input flow itself for compression).

The whole point of true fandom is to work within the universe of discourse, subject to basic physical laws
ghostrider2 says: Dec 18, 2009. 8:22 PM
it was in the comics too.  the whole purpose of the reactor was to keep tthe shrapnel out of his heart, right from the beginning of the series.  the suit was developed around it along with a neural interface when a small piece of shrapnel was drawn into his spine and paralyzed him.
guyfrom7up says: Dec 19, 2008. 7:27 PM
for ramjets to work don't you need to be going like mach 9?
HP psc 2110 all-in-one makebot (author) says: Dec 21, 2008. 12:18 PM
no, remember that a ramjet was what powered the German V1 rocket, the starting air flow does not have to be very fast. stark could have put a small fan in the jets to provide the start up air flow.
guyfrom7up says: Dec 22, 2008. 5:25 AM
maybe I'm thinking of something else then maybe it was scramjets?
HP psc 2110 all-in-one makebot (author) says: Dec 22, 2008. 10:06 AM
yes, they need start up rockets to accelerate them to a very high speed to start them up so that would make sense.
kelseymh says: Dec 19, 2008. 7:44 PM
Oh, so now you're asking for technical realism?!? We're talking about a guy with a fusion reactor the size of teacup implanted in his chest! But okay, fine, shoot down the idea because of the minimum speed requirements :-/
Lithium Rain says: Dec 19, 2008. 8:42 PM
That made me giggle! :D
Sandisk1duo says: Dec 19, 2008. 7:22 PM
ok, if i were tony stark, i'd ask a surgeon to remove the shrapnel from my heart...
kelseymh says: Dec 19, 2008. 7:40 PM
I take it you haven't seen the movie yet. They deal with that issue in the dialogue :-)
Sandisk1duo says: Dec 19, 2008. 8:34 PM
i saw it the day it came out, on my psp
Sandisk1duo says: Dec 19, 2008. 8:36 PM
so i didn't have high quality sound
Goodhart says: Dec 19, 2008. 9:29 AM
lifting straight up is possible (with leverage), throwing without being anchored somehow is not so easy. The equal and opposite reaction would repel the poor Supperman backwards (yes, I spelled it supper - man on purpose).
Keith-Kid says: May 9, 2009. 6:09 PM
Anything is possible if you put your mind to it!
=SMART= says: May 9, 2009. 5:27 PM
Ark reactor is too futuristic but I don't know much about power so whatever. You can do anything if you throw enough money at it. Nobody here could build this. period.
teaaddict314 says: May 9, 2009. 1:34 PM
Basically, no. The jets are a no, the weapons would be a no (most of them), the armor material itself would be close to no (maybe full no?) and the power source to power it all is most definitely a no. If they did make it it would be a military project and millions would be put into it. So that means REALLY no for an everyday joe to do at home.
AllFreedom1 says: Mar 25, 2009. 1:55 PM
I was thinking of creating an Iron Man project. I starting to work on it with my team. I know its hard, but if we work together on this project, we can change the whole future around. Its a classified New Republic project called, "Project I." I made the name myself. If you guys want to join the team, you're welcome to. I'll explain the rules when you join the team.
HP psc 2110 all-in-one makebot (author) says: Feb 26, 2009. 12:40 PM
news just in. this forum thread is shuting down. the "ironman armour project" as I now call it, has been moved to "stark industrys" the new instructabuls group. please join.
AllFreedom1 says: Feb 25, 2009. 5:53 AM
I was thinking all of us could design the Armour and the Ark Reactor. It could be possible for us to design and then come up with new ideas to power the suit and its attributes. If that's an option, is it?
HP psc 2110 all-in-one makebot (author) says: Feb 26, 2009. 12:31 PM
sounds cool. like an "ironman armour" group.
AllFreedom1 says: Feb 25, 2009. 5:55 AM
I would also add that the Iron Man Helmet need different programs to download inside. Such as a navigatin system, targeting system, etc.
ghostrider2 says: Dec 18, 2009. 8:30 PM
i think i can help with the mechanical aspect of the armor itself.  i have several ideas about the servo motors in the joints to help with movement and strength.  there is another guy, TitaniumAvenger who is trying to do something similar.  he might be able to help too.
HP psc 2110 all-in-one makebot (author) says: Dec 21, 2008. 12:35 PM
found another flight system. it is complex and to get it all you need to watch a video on you-tube by a guy called alien scientist, (its the video that explains the idea) basically, you cool a superconductor/zero-fluid down to nearly absolute zero, and then rotate it using magnets, the fluid then keeps going faster because the coldness gives it a property called super fluidity. the fluid then reaches something called relativistic speeds and then cancels gravity and floats. complicated.
HP psc 2110 all-in-one makebot (author) says: Dec 21, 2008. 12:28 PM
idea. stark`s Armour could fly using newtons third law and electomagnets. the boots (and hands, which would explain the repulers) contain electromagnetic coils. the force from the coils induces the oposit effect from the air. so push against the air and the air will push back at you. Think I am mad? look up the flying frog on you-tube (the frog is being repeled be very powerful super conducting magnets.)
Goodhart says: Dec 19, 2008. 6:47 AM
I have not seen the movie, but considering the direction most super hero movies tend to go in, many times they defy a lot of the laws of physics.

Take the Hulk for instance, although he got big (and we will suspend criticizm of that for now) he would never be heavy enogh to do what he does in the movie. No matter how strong one is, you can not lift, throw, move certain things quickly if you can not supply one of two things:

#1: either the proper leverage (and that would be cheating in the eyes of the movie,
or
#2: the bulk or mass greater then the object being moved.

Since I am less familiar with Iron Man, I am not sure if he lifts, moves, stops the advancement of, or redirects any heavy or fast moving objects. So, this post of mine may be just a lot of hot air :-)
kelseymh says: Dec 19, 2008. 9:24 PM
So, this post of mine may be just a lot of hot air :-)

No, that's what Kiteman and I have concluded the Iron Man uses to fly...
Goodhart says: Dec 19, 2008. 9:56 PM
internal balloons? :-)
starwing123 says: Dec 19, 2008. 5:30 AM
Main problem would be the power source. The power source in the movie isn't posible.
xACIDITYx says: Dec 19, 2008. 8:31 AM
Not yet.
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