Telford company hits new heights with Warhammer Power Fist work
It's not often that computer gamers get the chance to bring features of their games into real life – but work by a Shropshire company has helped one developer do just that.
Sega, the Japanese games maker behind Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III, brought one weapon used in the game off the screen.
The Power Fist is used in the game to give the wearer superhuman punches, which could smash through solid matter.
And to develop the prototype the company brought in Telford-based Proto Labs to create the rock-solid knuckles of the device.
Sega worked with product design firm Luma-iD to create the life-sized Power Fist as a representation of the gaming weapon for promotional use.
The completed product, which went through the same design process as any other prototyping project, needed Proto Labs to make the deadly digits of the device, and it responded by producing the fingers and thumb using CNC-machined aluminium.
Matt Passmore of Luma-iD said: “Working with the unusual and different is familiar territory, but the Power Fist was certainly one of our more exciting projects.
"The design demanded more than a normal prototype – the Power Fist required demonstrable strength to deliver the necessary punch, powered by two compressed air canisters.
"Weighing around 10kg, the final project need to be worn by a person and used to smash through breeze blocks, toilets and dolls houses. Not quite the conventional product test, but an integral part of the project brief"
He added: “We knew Proto Labs' technical capabilities and its track record to deliver exactly what we wanted.”
A video to demonstrate the product shows its hydraulic systems being used to punch through a doll's house and, bizarrely, a toilet.
“By all accounts, the project was a great success, everything ran extremely smoothly and brought together a team of specialists to deliver a first-class result”, said Mr Passmore added.
