Raspberry Eye

Description

I wanted to do something interesting with my RPi and a 2.4" TFT LCD. Google Glass was hot in the news, so I've decided to hack something similar. The semi-transparent mirror was extracted from Eye of Horus Beamsplitter, and the projection lens is cut from a plastic 3x Fresnel magnifying lens. The box and mounting parts are 3D-printed from ABS. Head strap is for GoPro. One RPi USB port is used for WiFi, and second for 2.4Ghz small wireless keyboard/mouse combo. All together cost around 100$. I haven't figured out a good option for the power supply yet, and don't know if this thing can have a practical application. The display driver is fbtft framebuffer, so both text and (non-accelerated) graphical modes are possible, but with 320x240 resolution using X is not too exciting. Display brightness is sufficient if ambient light is not too bright.

Here is a demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCYnIHqwIJU

Details

A drawing of the mounting assembly: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/105504669/rpi_eye.pdf

My copy of notro/fbtft driver with modifications to product the mirror image: https://github.com/genericsoma/fbtft/tree/mirror (there only fb_s6d1121.c is modified, but it should be easy to duplicate for other controllers).

I've bought the beamsplitter here: http://amzn.com/B000NSMODK

The screen is ITDB02-2.4E from ITead Studio

The framebuffer driver for Raspbian is here: https://github.com/notro/fbtft (my version is slightly modified to produce a mirror image)

For the lens look for a "credit card size 3x fresnel magnifying glass"

Components

1 × Raspberry Pi board Mine is 1st Gen B board

1 × 2.4" LCD display I've bought mine from ITead Studio, other sellers have them too

1 × Semi-transparent mirror Not easy to find, the one from Eye of Horus beamsplitter is unfortunately low-quality plastic

1 × Fresnel lens At least 3x

1 × GoPro head strap

Project Logs

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Raspberry Eye grows an eye
genericsoma • 07/06/2014 at 20:43 • 1 comment

Played with RPi Camera Board recently to see if it can be used for simple image-recognition.
Here is the result:
This is produced by this python script using picamera module to capture the image, ZBar bar code reader to find qr-codes and pygame was used to draw stuff. Latency is around 1 sec using 1024x768 image size.
I've realized there exists a problem with using see-through augmented-reality displays: if you need to draw something over a real object, you need to account for the camera offset from the display, which is important for close distances. I don't know how to calculate the correction dynamically without some kind of distance-detection hardware (the best would be to use a depth-sense camera... maybe they need to make one which is RPi-compatible).
I'll try to make a small demo video soon.
Added "mirror" branch on github
genericsoma • 05/28/2014 at 23:12 • 0 comments

I've added the code to produce the mirror image to "mirror" branch: https://github.com/genericsoma/fbtft/tree/mirror
It applies only to S6D1121 controler (fb_s6d1121.c). If should be easy to use the same trick with similar controllers such as ILI9325. Basically the starting address is calculated differently and the so-called GRAM direction is set to the opposite.
Uploaded demo video
genericsoma • 04/24/2014 at 10:19 • 0 comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCYnIHqwIJU
Added some details, attempted video demo
genericsoma • 04/23/2014 at 00:36 • 0 comments

Added links to components and mounting assembly drawing to the "details" section. Then tried to make a short video using GoPro, first couple of takes were not good. Will get some sleep, try again in the morning.

View all 4 project logs

Discussions

KBart1960 wrote 05/27/2014 at 14:38

Cool and interesting project.
The link is unfortunately down!

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genericsoma wrote 05/27/2014 at 14:52

the drawing link is fixed now

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snapgamesza wrote 05/22/2014 at 06:35

Really exciting project! Congratulations. Is the fbtft code on your github the version that produces a mirrored image?

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genericsoma wrote 05/23/2014 at 08:21

Not yet, I will put it shortly, but it works only with this specific display, because I've used the scan direction parameter.

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genericsoma wrote 05/28/2014 at 23:05

I've added the code to produce the mirror image to "mirror" branch (see the link in the project details).

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botmayank wrote 05/03/2014 at 11:55

Really great stuff!! Now how about some cool DBZ Scouter graphics :D

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mik3britt wrote 04/29/2014 at 14:07

So cool man! Great work!

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fsf wrote 04/27/2014 at 21:34

Hi,

I am brand new to your system and it keeps kicking me out or giving me errors....BUT it could very well be me as well. I have an age old challenge for you science buffs as you are obviously smarter than this 66 year old guy, as you have done it with plastic. We have found the way to remove the black sand but Is there any new and innovative way to seperate just plain old sand from gold dust other than plain old panning.

Thanks
God Bless
Freddy ...I would love to hear..!!

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james.dellow wrote 04/23/2014 at 04:49

@genericsoma- would love to use this with the young people I work with. Could we chat about best ways to approach this project- my email is james.dellow@thesquad.org.uk

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prostheticknowledge wrote 04/22/2014 at 16:35

@genericsoma - Is there a video demonstration of this?

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genericsoma wrote 04/23/2014 at 13:58

I'm in the process of making one. Will be ready soon.

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genericsoma wrote 04/24/2014 at 10:20

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCYnIHqwIJU

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prostheticknowledge wrote 04/24/2014 at 15:53

http://prostheticknowledge.tumblr.com/post/83722788676/raspberry-eye-wearable-computing-device-by

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woundedkarma wrote 04/21/2014 at 02:33

Very cool :) I play with the idea in my head a lot.. I wasn't sure how to do the display. Granted I tend to avoid "spoilers" or I might have seen this somewhere else. I will have to keep an eye out for that board game :> Maybe it will show up in a thrift shop.

Isn't there any way to get the raspberry pi off of your head and into a pocket or carrying case?

For a battery pack, I'm going to try this: http://amzn.com/B009V5X1CE with my first project.

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genericsoma wrote 04/22/2014 at 08:29

This pack seems pretty good deal :) The beamsplitter is actually an optional item: http://amzn.com/B000NSMODK

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danielmcgraw wrote 06/23/2014 at 10:39

Hi woundedkarma,
Myself and Mike have been working on a project to do this.
Please see here: http://hackaday.io/project/1368-Raspberry-Pi-Smart-Glass
Dan

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[deleted]

[this comment has been deleted]

genericsoma wrote 04/22/2014 at 08:31

It's not too bad, but I didn't try to wear it for hours.

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davedarko wrote 04/19/2014 at 19:05

Any chance you can share some sketches or files for for this?

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genericsoma wrote 04/19/2014 at 21:56

Is SolidWorks format OK?

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davedarko wrote 04/20/2014 at 07:25

A theoretical sketch, like a drawing of the insides would be fine, since I just need to get a clue about the basics. I'm only able to afford to work with free 3D suits, so handling solidworks format could be a problem? I think I have to buy some stuff and try around a bit ;)

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genericsoma wrote 04/22/2014 at 08:33

I'll put some sketches and STL files soon.

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Tyler Anderson wrote 04/19/2014 at 19:05

I've always wanted to put something like this in my car. What is the focal distance of the projected image? That is, how far in front of you does it appear to be.

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genericsoma wrote 04/19/2014 at 22:30

About 30cm with the current setup. It's possible to have the image "at infinity" by increasing the distance from the screen to the lens a little (to about 7cm).

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Raspberry Eye

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Raspberry Eye grows an eye

Added "mirror" branch on github

Uploaded demo video

Added some details, attempted video demo

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