When electronic-modding fan Eddie Zarick decided it was time to pop the question to his girlfriend Sarah Carter, he knew he wanted to do it in style. And since she had already taken to calling him Tony Stark, he figured the best way to propose was with his "Arc Reactor Heart," which he made by hacking the version of Iron Man's arc reactor he had already made. (Let that sink in.)
"After we starting dating she saw it and loved it and always called me Tony Stark since I'm always in my garage tinkering with things," Zarick said in an e-mail to Wired. "So when I wanted to propose I was lying in my bed thinking of a cool way to do it, and the idea just popped into my mind that it would be incredible if it came out of an arc reactor."
The 25-year-old Florida man, who maintains a website of his mods and hacks at EdsJunk.net and also does real hero stuff as a paramedic and aspiring firefighter (swoon), made the moving parts of the arc reactor ring box using two servos controlled by an Arduino and lit it with an Adafruit RGB LED strip and some separate white LEDs that light the ring once it comes out of the inside core. (See how it came together in the photos above and video below.)
Once it was done he gave it to her in a moment that would be right at home in Iron Man or The Bachelor.
"I took her out to the beach one night in the back if my Jeep and told her I had a early Christmas gift for her, I gave her the box, and inside was the reactor," Zarick said. "It was at night so it really shined bright and she was amazed. But once I pushed the button and the light show happened and the ring came out, she was speechless and crying."
And, needless to say, his Pepper Potts said "yes." Eat your heart out, Stark.
Photos courtesy Eddie Zarick, pictures of Zarick and Carter by Lorena Gillispie Photography
