I AM BORG.... (for halloween anyway, and you can be too)
This is an instructable of my Borg outfit that I am building. For the outter layer, I'm using hockey pads that I had painted black. I'm adding a few additional features onto the Borg character that some true trekies may not appreciate (sorry dudes). I guess the story of the Borg is they assimulate all technology, so let's just pretend the assimulated an LCD screen, an Antenna and some Pulsating Lights.
Head Unit
The head unit is carved out of a soft block of foam and is secured to my head via a black headband that is attached to it. The eye peice is half of a plastic petri dish, so it's functional as I can see through it. The circuit is operating off my custom microcontroller board running a Microchip Pic 16F877a @ 20 MHZ. A little overboard for what I need, but it's what my board is pinned for. There is a Sharp IR Distance Sensor on the front, a servo with a laser and many random LEDs. The servo moves the laser around randomly, until an object comes within 30 cm (1 foot) of the distance sensor... Then, the servo aims the laser at the object directly in front. The idea is the laser will scan around when i'm walking, and aim itself at someone when I stop to talk to them. The LEDs randomly flicker, as if loading and processing information.
PWM Lights
There is a second board with a 16F864A @ 20 mhz that controls a NPN transistor that's hooked to a pile or LEDs. I wrote some pulse wave modulation code that pulses the LED's from dark to bright over a 3-4 second period.
LCD Screen
The LCD is powered by 4 7.2v 2200 mah batteries. They are arranged to provide 14.4v @ 4400 mah. On my test, I was able to power the screen for 3.5 hours with 14.4v @ 2200 mah. The screen display is a combination of text from the analog sharp distance sensor overlayed on top of some graphic coding that takes me back to my 90's demo days. Some worm holes, spirals and plasma. I also threw a few scrolling bitmaps of assembler code and a terminal session in unix.
This is an instructable of my Borg outfit that I am building. For the outter layer, I'm using hockey pads that I had painted black. I'm adding a few additional features onto the Borg character that some true trekies may not appreciate (sorry dudes). I guess the story of the Borg is they assimulate all technology, so let's just pretend the assimulated an LCD screen, an Antenna and some Pulsating Lights.
Head Unit
The head unit is carved out of a soft block of foam and is secured to my head via a black headband that is attached to it. The eye peice is half of a plastic petri dish, so it's functional as I can see through it. The circuit is operating off my custom microcontroller board running a Microchip Pic 16F877a @ 20 MHZ. A little overboard for what I need, but it's what my board is pinned for. There is a Sharp IR Distance Sensor on the front, a servo with a laser and many random LEDs. The servo moves the laser around randomly, until an object comes within 30 cm (1 foot) of the distance sensor... Then, the servo aims the laser at the object directly in front. The idea is the laser will scan around when i'm walking, and aim itself at someone when I stop to talk to them. The LEDs randomly flicker, as if loading and processing information.
PWM Lights
There is a second board with a 16F864A @ 20 mhz that controls a NPN transistor that's hooked to a pile or LEDs. I wrote some pulse wave modulation code that pulses the LED's from dark to bright over a 3-4 second period.
LCD Screen
The LCD is powered by 4 7.2v 2200 mah batteries. They are arranged to provide 14.4v @ 4400 mah. On my test, I was able to power the screen for 3.5 hours with 14.4v @ 2200 mah. The screen display is a combination of text from the analog sharp distance sensor overlayed on top of some graphic coding that takes me back to my 90's demo days. Some worm holes, spirals and plasma. I also threw a few scrolling bitmaps of assembler code and a terminal session in unix.
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Signing UpStep 1: The Suit
First you'll have to get the items to build the suit. You can try a used sport wear shop, pawn shop, salvation army, walmart, zellers, etc.
I bought a pile of hockey pads for pretty cheap. They were new from Walmart, but on sale.
I then painted them all black with a can of spray paint.
Then I added a light coat of silver to give it some flicker.
I bought a pile of hockey pads for pretty cheap. They were new from Walmart, but on sale.
I then painted them all black with a can of spray paint.
Then I added a light coat of silver to give it some flicker.
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kenkou chou jumyou kage no akari
(good health long life, kage no akari)
There is no "I" in a collective :-)