Huang wears his handcrafted armored suit. Photo: Screenshot from media reports

"Jarvis, check the exoskeleton." "The suit's program has been activated, at your service, sir." This isn't a scene from the latest Iron Man film, but rather a handcrafted armored suit created by a Chinese university student in his spare time, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Huang Yanjun, the 21-year-old student from Southwest China's Chongqing, spent two months of his summer break building an exoskeleton suit. The suit moves smoothly, and videos of it have recently gone viral online.

This year, Huang noticed that most exoskeletons could only achieve a helmet or partial armor, with very few complete suits capable of movement, so he began his journey on designing and creating prop exoskeletons. 

Huang's suit is a full build with key panels that open and close automatically, Xinhua reported.

After finalizing the design, Huang used 3D printing technology to transform the designed models into physical components, which were then assembled into a seamless, one-piece shell.

As the command is issued, the iconic mechanical male voice of Jarvis, the artificial intelligence assistant from the Iron Man films, echoes in the ears. And as each armor plate slowly lifts, the entire armor suit locks into place in response, read the viral video.

The suit can also mount effects such as smoke and lasers for demonstrations, the report said.

Since primary school, Huang has been exploring electronic products—DVD discs and old circuit boards were all his "treasures." 

He often visited a nearby recycling station to hunt for old appliances and parts, which he repurposed into items like laser pointers and electric mosquito swatters. Classmates dubbed him "the appliance-disassembling kid." 

In middle school, his innovation teacher, Zhang Zhirong, taught him that "innovation is not unstructured trial and error, but methodical exploration." 

Huang later enrolled in the School of Mechanics and Vehicle Engineering at Chongqing Jiaotong University, where he majors in mechanical design, manufacturing, and automation.

As a freshman, he retrofitted his dorm lock into a smart system with fingerprint and voice unlock, said the report.

Huang also taught himself robotics, electrical machinery and computer simulation, collaborating with peers to design and develop an "assistive walking robot," for which they have applied for a utility model patent, the report said.


Global Times