Destiny player builds an auto-leveling robot with Arduino

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Games like Destiny can take up a lot of time if you want to level multiple characters. Or, you can let a robot do it for you.

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Like with a number of video games, playing Destiny can be time consuming, particularly for those looking to level up multiple characters. And though we’ve seen several projects out there that encourage a healthier lifestyle while gaming, one Maker has done the complete opposite: designing a contraption that doesn’t require physically playing the game at all. In an attempt to create the “slowest, laziest way to level up to 20 without having to lift a finger,” Yavin Four has developed an automated mechanism using a servo motor, an Xbox controller and an Arduino Uno (ATmega328).

The project, which first appeared on Reddit, may not be the most complex robot, but does allow Four to open up an early Ocean of Storms level on the moon and let the game run while headed out for class, work or to grab a bite to eat. As Kotaku notes, the robot will rush enemies all by itself, reload the checkpoints and enable the character do it all over again. The Maker can then come back whenever he pleased, regain control and reap the experience rewards.

“Woke up this morning to a brand new 20,” Four wrote on Reddit. “Had about 3,600 kills, and 900 deaths, and like 50 green engrams. I started at level 16.5 yesterday afternoon, and reached 20 sometime while I was asleep. With the armor I had waiting for him he is now a 26.”

Intrigued by this ATmega328 based, auto-leveling bot? You can find the Maker’s entire build here.

3D printing a Thorn hand cannon (Destiny)

A Bungie team member by the name of Sloan Hood recently designed his very own 3D printed Thorn hand cannon from the Destiny universe to match his uber-realistic Hunter threads.

“Destiny is a costume/prop-maker’s dream. There’s such a wide variety of awesome things to make, from the hard-surface armor of the Titan, to the fabric-based garb of the Warlock,” Hood told the official Bungie blog.

“I chose the Hunter because it’s a mix of the other two classes. There’s a bit of armor, and a bit of fabric. I also chose the Hunter because that’s the class I like to play. Quick, sneaky, lethal.”

According to Sloan, the Thorn hand cannon was 3D printed from actual assets created by Bungie’s hard-surface artists.

“I had to cut up the original models so that they had a flat surface from which the printer could begin printing,” Sloan explained.

“Cutting and capping hi-poly models with up to a million triangles can be a pretty arduous task. I also had to make sure the scale of each piece was correct.”

Once Sloan had ported a gun from the last safe city on Earth into Bellevue, there was an adjustment or two that needed be made before his hand cannon was ready.

“The first prints of the Thorn looked awesome, but a fellow artist who knows guns pointed out that the grip was way too small and was not quite the right shape.”

The subsequent iteration? Well, let’s just the final version of the prop would make any cosplayer follow Sloan on a dangerous mission into the wild.

“For the next few years, I may just play real-life Destiny and ‘level-up’ my existing armor and weapons,” he said. “Of course, I’ll have to make all that epic loot myself!”

For the uninitiated, Destiny is an upcoming action role-playing first-person shooter video game set in an open sci-fi world. The long-awaited title is slated to go live on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One September 9, 2014.