![[miko_tarik] wearing diy AR goggles in futuristic setting](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/diy-ar-goggles-1200.jpg?w=800)
If you’re into pushing tech boundaries from home, this one’s for you. Redditor [mi_kotalik] has crafted ‘Zero’, a custom pair of DIY augmented reality (AR) glasses using a Raspberry Pi Zero. Designed as an affordable, self-contained device for displaying simple AR functions, Zero allows him to experiment without breaking the bank. With features like video playback, Bluetooth audio, a teleprompter, and an image viewer, Zero is a testament to what can be done with determination and creativity on a budget. The original Reddit thread includes videos, a build log, and links to documentation on X, giving you an in-depth look into [mi_kotalik]’s journey. Take a sneak peek through the lens here.
![[miko_tarik] wearing diy AR goggles](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/diy-ar-goggles-smallphoto.jpg?w=400)
Creating Zero wasn’t simple. From designing the frame in Tinkercad to experimenting with transparent PETG to print lenses (ultimately switching to resin-cast lenses), [mi_kotalik] faced plenty of challenges. By customizing SPI displays and optimizing them to 60 FPS, he achieved an impressive level of real-time responsiveness, allowing him to explore AR interactions like never before. While the Raspberry Pi Zero’s power is limited, [mi_kotalik] is already planning a V2 with a Compute Module 4 to enable 3D rendering, GPS, and spatial tracking.
Zero is an inspiring example for tinkerers hoping to make AR tech more accessible, especially after the fresh news of both Meta and Apple cancelling their attempts to venture in the world of AR. If you are into AR and eager to learn from an original project like this one, check out the full Reddit thread and explore Hackaday’s past coverage on augmented reality experiments.
Blurry!
Hand cast and hand shaped lenses. I’d cut him a little slack..
Why? The processes for making good quality lenses have existed for well over a century, and are very well documented. If you don’t have the knowledge or expertise to make them yet, both are easy to acquire. If you choose not to make that modest investment then there is no shortage of suppliers of any kind of lens you wish, often quickly, cheaply, or both.
There’s no excuse to be stuck with crappy lenses, unless you want to prove a point, or are calling it ‘Art’, or just like self-flagellation.
But I’ll give benefit of doubt and assume those lenticular things are just a temporary stand-ins while decent lenses come in or he learns how to design an optical system and make decent lenses. Judging by the narrative in his posts, he has been focusing (har) on other things.
Zach Friedman mentioned in a recent video about his heads up display that the optics a wearable display like this take millions of dollars to develop, and are out of reach for hobbyists. So I’m not sure whether this project is really feasible.
He’s likely just ignorant of the actual processes needed. Mind you it isn’t easy, but one-off optics done to very high precision is completely achievable with time and patience. In this project he opted for a lower quality product to prioritise other aspects of the system.
He was referring to the sort of waveguide optics used in the epson moverio, he harvested his display from, which are entirely different than the method used here. This system is using a much simpler approach. There is more than one way to skin a cat.
That said, You can already find raw oled pumped waveguide assemblies on ali, if you dont want to gut a consumer product.
He had other priorities and based on both his attempts and there fact that he put his build log on Twitter this guy didn’t actually try looking into well established lens making techniques.
I’ve tried to make custom optics for camera lenses. Saying it’s easy because it’s been done for 100s of years is silly, jet engines are 70 year old technology and they are easier to make in a garage than lenses
There are no suppliers for custom focal length+diameter lenses, and diy lens cutting equipment is non-existent.
Oh, for Pete’s sake. People have been grinding their own telescope mirrors and lenses for ages. Kits are available. Yes, it’s tedious. Yes, antireflective or aluminum coating is an additional challenge. Yes, tiny eyepiece lenses and achromats are a bigger challenge. Yes, you’re probably better off just buying a commercial one, if all you want is the lens and not the experience. But it’s certainly do-able.
Custom commercial glass is also readily available, but if you’re looking at onesie quantities you probably want to investigate other solutions. The last full-custom lens I ordered cost almost $10k for a pair and took several weeks, and it was a pretty simple (though achromatic) design, with only four ground surfaces, two AR coated.
Something about a law prohibiting making any lens to a 3 figure diopter da da da.
This protects the optometrists and eyeglass makers which is a closed market.
Appal needs your prescription for their/your headset. Any good fitting VR/AR gear over your own glasses?
DIY lens grinding equipment is quite existent. Theres a ton of machines available under $1k. You can even get them printed https://www.etsy.com/listing/1607172277/3d-printed-optical-lens-grinding-and?gpla=1&gao=1&
As for custom lenses If they dont have what you are looking for OTS Edmunds does custom lenses. Even Thorlabs does custom lenses. There are tons of other suppliers for custom lenses. Flex that googlefu!
You can even get them printed.
https://www.luximprint.com/services/rapid-prototyping-custom-optics/
I dunno man, making a lens is, I think an entire discipline and craft all unto itself that’s easily worth an entire Hackaday series, especially for just a couple of units, and AR optics are weird. Hell, mailing one simple shape – the parabola, then testing it is a whole book, and more than one book has been dedicated to it, and of course we haven’t even coated it yet, fingers crossed that the lab doesn’t screw it up. An AR headset is complicated – I’d venture more complicated than a VR, and there’s way more to it than the optics. Props to the guy, even a crappy AR headset is a huge piece of engineering.
Every day we stray futher away from god.
Came here to say the same thing. That’s one of the worst phrases I’ve read in a while.
What does god have to do with this? And which one are you referring to exactly, your god, the god of others? Since there are many religions and many kinds of gods. The whole god concept is very confusing and full of holes.
Atheism died out in the early 2010s, I suggest you find a new personality trait.
Pretty sure you’ve not been around then, as it’s very much alive and more people are claiming atheism now vs then.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/
Pretty sure atheism is at an all time high…
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/
The flying spaghetti monster, obviously
May his noodley appendage touch you my brother…
I would prefer to have it on GitHub but you can post long form articles on X too, not just short messages. Not saying it’s the best choice (I prefer GitHub for documentation) but I see tons of people use this exact feature for this purpose on X. If it works it works.
Technology has gotten too pervasive.
“Something went wrong. Try reloading.”
Is X deliberately breaking itself? Almost nothing posted there works any more.
No issues on my side. I never see that happen on X. I use X a lot and never encounter any issues. Maybe try another browser?
Chrome or Firefox, same result. First post, thread 0/10 is visible, then nothing else. 2 photos present. Then “Something went wrong. Try reloading.” Most of Twitter went that way when it became X.
If it requires a login or cookies to see the rest, then I guess I’m out of luck and can’t see his content. Sucks to be me. Moving on.
hmm. that header image strongly reminds me of La Jetee the french scifi “movie”. maybe he was influenced by it.
http://www.tasteofcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/La-Jetee.jpg
https://dl9fvu4r30qs1.cloudfront.net/24/18/6bb9de584f0ba18b9b86f6643065/la-jetee.jpg
He looks like a plague doctor. And Xitter? Srsly?
Anybody able to say what “SPI” displays he’s using?
I wish him all the best. I am sure there is some clever stuff in there. But documenting one’s work via reddit and X seems like some kind of joke, or a bet, or some very weird clause by a sponsor or employer. Github is a thing. Blogs are a thing. Forums are still a thing.
Still superior in every way to Discord. We really need to en masse scrape as much of Discord as possible and index it into search engines. And I do mean all of it. If the link is public then there is no violation of privacy.
i love it.
what a great build!
praise the guy for his ingenuity, he even built his own lens!!!
the toxic replies here suck.
It’s a nice and fun concept. With lot’s of very interesting technical challenges. The lack of finding more info about it can be a little frustrating to some and prevents them from appreciating it to the fullest.
Do you genuinely believe criticism to be “toxic”? That if someone suggests improvements they are somehow insulting you? If anything as a project maintainer I would be more insulted by asspats like yours. Have you never seen someone pour resin before? And sure, one could say printing PETG lenses is ingenious, but there’s a reason people don’t do it.
I think he was not saying that all criticism is toxic, but some, like my “Blurry” one earlier did not provide any positive feedback.
I stand by my earlier comment, there’s no way I would risk getting a headache using that device, or tripping over something that it blurred out.
I do look forward to one day having a HUD that is practical and affordable.
Links to, documentation on Twitter?
Or
Links to documentation, on Twitter?
Different commas make that sentence mean very different things.
Heck, even with commas it isn’t that clear.
Links, on Twitter, to documentation?