Grimdaria's T-45 Power Armor Helmet Is a Fallout-Inspired Raspberry Pi Pico-Powered Marvel

Pseudonymous maker "Grimdaria" brought some Fallout-themed joy to an 11-year-old this Halloween — with a T-45 Power Armor helmet build featuring Raspberry Pi Pico-powered lighting, pass-through sound, and a functional head-up display.

"Sized to fit my 11 year old for Halloween," Grimdaria explains of the build, "and wired in a way to allow him to control some of the electronics. Both my paint job and wiring are crap and I plan on printing another helmet to redo everything. Speakers were planned for voice changing but we ran out of time."

The helmet itself is taken from the Fallout universe, and provided as part of the T-45 Power Armor — and while it may not protect against raiders, the prop version Grimdaria has built includes some impressive functionality. Its electronics payload is based around a Raspberry Pi Pico and its RP2040 microcontroller, connected to an internal temperature sensor which in turn triggers temperature-based cooling fans. There's a primary lamp featuring 12 RGB LEDs, stereo microphones feeding into a headset to prevent muffled hearing, and a compact but functional head-up display.

"The OLED is quite readable. Its a 128×64, blue/yellow, and is super sharp," Grimdaria explains of this last feature. "I mounted it at the farthest possible position from his eyes, [and] the helmet's 'snout' protrudes rather far from the 'visor' so he can read it perfectly. He wore it trick or treating for about three hours (yeah, long time) and had no complaints of eye strain."

The display itself provides visual feedback on the status of the lights, fans, and headset volume, the latter of which is controlled via potentiometer, while also reading the helmet's interior temperature and the speed of the fans if spinning.

More information on the build is available in Grimdaria's Reddit post.