Carlos Flores, a 10th-grade student, created a replica of a helmet worn by the electronic music duo Daft Punk. The front of this silver chrome helmet has a full LED matrix display that illuminates words and patterns. To shape the helmet, Carlos used a baseball helmet and cardboard. He added fiberglass and Bondo to give it structural integrity, and he smoothed it down to paint it.
Inside, the electronics include an 8x32 LED matrix array with LED drivers. An MSP430 LaunchPad controls the sequence of LED patterns. Carlos got help from his dad, Luis, to cycle through a lot of patterns and words and figure out what looked best.
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This is the best written and most thoroughly analyzed project I've seen in this series. I'm comparing that to the college projects and the senior engineers that have presented on here! Great job! You'll be a major asset to some big corp someday, or blaze your own trail of success!
You will want to check out a blog I've been following for years. Starting as a 'simple' hobbiest, and now having graduated to making enough money building replica gadgets as a professional Prop creator; http://volpinprops.blogspot.com/2010/07/daft-punk-final.html
Tends to include complete parts, manufacturing methods, photos, and electronics information on nearly all of this projects, including his Daft Punk replica helmets (one is nearly identical to the original that this entry was emulating).
I agree with your analysis. Not only did the project look like fun to build, the creator seemed very bright and charming. I enjoy these things that are built just for the heck of it and the builder does not take him/herself too seriously.
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