From donning the occasional cape to spitefully avoiding tripping soon-to-be uncle killers after getting stiffed at a professional wrestling match, it's safe to say every comic book fan has emulated their favorite comic book characters in one way or another. Iron Man fan Chad Barraford puts 99 percent of us to shame, however, by doing something sane and industrious - building his own digital life assistant modeled after Tony Stark's cinematic J.A.R.V.I.S. system.

The Boston Globe caught up with Barraford to catch the system in action and like any reasonable programmer capable of rigging up what's essentially a digital butler, he's got it handling everything from his entertainment to his health. Handy tasks like organizing his Netflix account, social networking sites and personal finances are a given, but by linking his J.A.R.V.I.S. to an RFID reader, Barraford (plus his dog and close friends) are able to instantly modify his apartment's environment with the swipe of a card. Best of all, the whole thing can be controlled via voice commands, which comes in handy when Barraford's struck with a migraine and wants his living space to politely conform to his recovery by dimming the lights.

While most of the examples of Project J.A.R.V.I.S.' feats featured in the video seem fairly practical, I have a sneaking suspicion Barraford's keeping some of its more advanced abilities close to the vest. You never know when Nick Fury is going to show up at your place to talk about something called "The Avengers Initiative," after all.

Seethe with jealousy after the jump.

[Via Gizmodo]

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