Artist, maker, and trainer Markus Opitz has written a information to constructing a low-cost pair of wearable “Knowledge Glasses,” which might be managed over Bluetooth Low Power through a Seeed Studio XIAO BLE nRF52840 Sense board.
“Lengthy earlier than I revealed on Instructables, a terrific challenge caught my eye in 2018: Alain’s knowledge glasses,” Opitz explains, referring to a challenge by maker Alain Mauer to construct a head-up show. “I used to be fascinated by the concept. Alain used the glasses to show his voltage meter through Bluetooth. Though I did not have such a measuring system, I attempted to duplicate it and inbuilt a couple of devices: compass with circuit board, crosshairs, countdown. The system was managed through an app on my cellphone. This fashion I needed to discover ways to use the MIT App Inventor 2.”
A dinky little Seeed Studio XIAO BLE nRF52840 Sense powers this practice “Knowledge Glasses” wearable. (📷: Markus Opitz)
Sadly, Opitz’s authentic prototype was by no means completed — however his discovery of the compact Seeed Studio XIAO BLE nRF52840 Sense, a compact but full improvement board constructed round Nordic Semiconductors’ eponymous microcontroller of the identical title, turned out to be the lacking piece of the puzzle. The end result: a fully-functional 3D-printed pair of “Knowledge Glasses,” which makes use of the board’s built-in sensors to drive a spread of head-up show capabilities, from a synthetic horizon to a easy clock.
“There are two approaches to DIY knowledge glasses,” Opitz explains of the ultimate design. “The show beams its picture forwards parallel to the body, the place it’s directed in the direction of the attention by two mirrored surfaces. The second mirror in DIY knowledge glasses is commonly a foil or Plexiglas. I discovered the second mirror notably problematic: the projection floor was not flat sufficient (distortion) and the picture was not vibrant sufficient, particularly outdoors within the solar. An additional improvement appeared extra logical to me: projection straight into the attention utilizing only one mirror. Though the eyepiece appears to be in the way in which, in observe the restriction of the sphere of view is barely minimal.”
The glasses are managed through a companion app, which communicates over Bluetooth Low Power. (📷: Markus Opitz)
It is this second method which is used for Opitz’s information, which locations an 0.49″ OLED 64×32 show, the XIAO board, a 150mAh battery, plastic lens, and plastic mirror right into a 3D-printed housing appropriate for carrying. The firmware on the microcontroller hyperlinks to a smartphone app for management through Bluetooth Low Power, although Opitz suggests this might in concept be swapped for on-device voice management utilizing the board’s built-in microphone.
The challenge is detailed in full on Instructables.