Gizmodo explains the technology behind this impressive recreation. Many toy companies have no doubt created realistic-looking replicas, but YouTuber Sufficiently Advanced (Allen Pan) has taken it a step further — he configured his replica so that only he can lift it.
Pan, 25, is a freelance electrical engineer who was inspired to create the hammer after he saw the clip for Avengers: Age of Ultron, where the heroes try and fail to lift Thor’s hammer.
“I thought ‘I wonder how you could make Mjölnir with technology?'” he told Digital Journal over the phone. Tony Stark’s sarcastic remark about fingerprints led Pan to his idea. “I thought it would be really funny to have a hammer with a fingerprint scanner.”
The technology behind the hammer isn’t too complicated, but hidden enough to fool the many people who try to lift the hammer in Sufficiently Advanced’s video. The handle features a capacitive touch scanner that will only recognize Pan’s fingerprints. His touch deactivates the electromagnetic transformer (taken from an old microwave oven and powered by four 12-volt batteries). The hammer also features an Arduino Pro Mini circuit board and solid state relay. So long as the hammer rests on a clean metal surface, it’s basically impossible to lift without some kind of major machinery.
The materials cost less than $100, but Pan says the labour hours were what would really drive up the “cost” of creating it.
Pan did the bulk of the work on the hammer from February to May of this year, but found the handle was still a little buggy. Eventually he fine-tuned it and brought it to Venice Beach in southern California, where he invited passers-by to see how “worthy” they are. Naturally, no one comes close to getting it off the ground, except the last guy, who showed ordinary people can pick it up — by not grasping the handle.
In Marvel comics, Mjölnir has been primarily the weapon of Thor, but has also been wielded by Loki, Odin, Captain America and Storm, among others. In the most recent storylines, Thor has found himself unworthy to wield the hammer, and his former love interest Jane Foster now wields his mantle.
Pan started his channel with a very specific niche in mind: “I started that YouTube channel because I wanted to make a bunch of videos of stuff where you wouldn’t expect it to exist yet.”
Naturally, he is amazed at the response to his video so far — this is only the second video on his YouTube channel. “I thought I’d be 10 videos in before I started getting some traction,” he said, laughing. “I woke up and I was trending on Facebook, that’s crazy!”
Pan already has his next project in mind — with the upcoming release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he hopes to make a new kind of lightsaber, but he’s not sure he’ll be able to create it from scratch with just two months to go.
