Centurion's Helm of +2 Swankiness

By Max

Task: Make some Roman helmets for the team

A post shared by Iron Reign Robotics FTC (@team6832) on Jan 12, 2017 at 6:20pm PST

We’re following a Roman theme this year, but nobody’s gonna know it if we don’t look the part. So, we decided it was time to make some Roman soldier style helmets. The most Roman helmets cover the top of the head with the body of the helm, with two additional plates on hinges that cover the cheeks, a protrusion at the back similar to the bill of a ball cap to protect the back of the neck, and of course the iconic curved crest, which would point forwards on the common soldier’s helmet (if the soldier could afford it) or from side to side on the helmet of a centurion (the best soldier of in a group of 100). While it would be nice to mimic the helmet entirely, we don’t have the time or the funds to do that ourselves, and instead opted for a more homespun version.

Our helmets each consist of a construction helmet, the sawn-off head of a broom, and a single screw holding the two together. It’s simple, but it’s cheap, easy, and definitely gets the job done.

Reflections

The helmet has most of the features of a Roman helmet already, but it is still missing the hinged cheek guards. We likely won’t add hinged ones because they could be distracting to drivers wearing them and they would take too long to build, but I have a plan to cut stationary ones out of foam board and socket them into a pair of empty slots I noticed on the sides of the helmets. Also, Tycho suggested that, at least for the drive team, we could fit a few helmets with safety glasses mounted on hinges to reduce the chance that the drivers accidentally go to the playing field without their protective wear.