Elysium Exoskeletoncopy link
A full-scale replica of the exosuit from the movie Elysium (2013)
overviewcopy link
This exosuit was designed in Autodesk Inventor using photographs of the movie props built by Weta Workshop (original concept art by Aaron Beck).
Some parts were 3D-printed with Protolabs and re-cast out of Alumimum 356 at Ctrl^H foundry, others machined by Protolabs out of Aluminum 6061. The pistons were machined on a metal lathe, and then the exosuit was assembled by using metal rod ends from McMaster Carr and fasteners from Fastenall.
Completing this project presented significant challenges, but members of The Home Foundry forum helped me learn investment casting and Panurgic jewelry shop taught small-scale autoclaving. Everything I learned is documented and the foundry I setup for this project is available to Ctrl^H hackerspace members.
Once the metal parts were filed and polished, meowterspace helped spray-paint them with glossy black enamel from Tamiya and Rust-oleum.
instructionscopy link
Assembly instructions created for the Hackaday 2017 Sci-Fi Contest:
downloadscopy link
Parts can be downloaded by cloning the GitHub repository and are also viewable in the browser, so you can use the instructions above to make one!
| directory | contents |
|---|---|
| .stl exports of individual parts using millimeter units | |
| instructions | build instructions and the source Adobe InDesign file |
| build | photographs to show assembled parts at a glance |
| assembled | high-poly .stl and .obj exports of the assembled exosuit |
| src | Autodesk Inventor parts (.ipt) and assemblies (.iam) |
| render | 3D renders to show assembled parts at a glance |
| view | low-poly .obj export with ambient occlusion texture |
| references | reference photographs used to model all parts in this project |
buildcopy link
Here’s what metal casting the chest plate of this suit looked like:
The entire process of building this exosuit is summarized in this presentation:
See the Hackaday project and the RPF build log for a journal of this build.