DIY Augmented Reality Heads-Up Display

mkwan writes "A PhD student in Melbourne, Australia, has built an augmented reality head-up display using a baseball cap, an Android smartphone, and off-the-shelf optics. It won't win any awards for style or practicality, but it's a fun way to use Wikitude. All we need now is a Terminator-vision smartphone app." Not nearly as modern, but vaguely related: the Private Eye P4.

Re:

[niftydude]

This is the same guy who wrote the partially completed android X11 server that was posted on /. recently. I didn't see the story there either. I mean, it was impressive that he had implemented most of X11 by himself, but a fully featured x11 app already existed on the market ( here [google.com]), so I don't consider it newsworthy.

How does his blog keep getting on /.'s front page?

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you understand VNC? That app works by rendering everything to an offscreen framebuffer in RAM, then VNC copies it into a separate process's RAM (I presume directly into the display framebuffer). This means no hardware acceleration for the X server, and some battery-draining CPU load for copying the pixels. It gets particularly bad if you attempt e.g. video playback, where the normal flow is sending YUV (or similar) data directly to the video card, which handles scaling and RGB conversion in hardware, and

Re:

[niftydude]

Yes I understand the difference between VNC and X11, but for the typical android phone/tablet use case of using wifi x11 tunnelling over ssh to a remote server running X apps, none of the performance issues you mention (hardware acceleration, video streaming) are relevant at all.

Both the "native" X11 server and the "fake" X11 in a VNC session will have essentially the same performance it that situation.

Re:

[niftydude]

The first line in the description of the native X server app is

This application implements a mostly-complete X11 server, running natively in Android. It allows X Window System applications to be run remotely and displayed on an Android device with internet access.

(bolding mine) which is why I assumed most people used it for ssh tunneling.

You may want to run the app remotely rather than NX for many reasons - accessing data or controlling hardware on a remote server for example. Your point about copying pixels between processes is certainly correct for your use case of a local chrooted OS install. However, for my ssh tunnelling use case, I'm not sure I agree, because the VNC pixel copying and X11 rend

Not goofy looking at all

[rebelwarlock]

It must also augment his reflection in the mirror if he thinks he should go outside with a smartphone and a block of styrofoam taped to his hat.

Re:

[million_monkeys]

Have ask what 'You don't say (so)!' think It is a pus to think such Christ alive!

Obviously.
You're preaching to the choir here buddy.

Re:

[Boscrossos]

I find your statement intriguing, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Modifications.

[Bruce McBruce]

1. Make mountable earpiece with technician one-ear headset.
2. Link lens to single eyepiece.
3. HUD app.
4. Make deliberately fragile and cheap.
5. Infinite business as geeks the world over keep buying them to crush while screaming that it's over 9000.

Re:

[Saija]

6. ???
7. Profit

Re:

[ottothecow]

You mean like the android-phone connected ski goggle systems that already exist? [reconinstruments.com]

Its not quite a HUD yet (more of a screen in a part of your vision that would be obscured by the goggles) but its pretty cool. Far less than $9000 although still more than I'd be willing to pay--would be kind of cool to get some live stats plus trail maps showing where all of your friends are on the mountain.

CV value and what Apple is to spend on now

[robi5]

He could have reduced the CV value of the gear if he didn't use double mirroring - i.e. the phone could be horizontal, screen down. One fewer mirror is better quality. Software can mirror the screen contents (I tried an Iphone in a similar setup, using the car windshield as the mirror). As a next project, the camera could continuously monitor the user's eyeballs and determine where in the real life and on the screen he is looking at, including depth! Also, whenever an image is shown on the screen to augment

Re:

[robi5]

The compass works (well, to the extent it does) when the phone is horizontal (and that way only, AFAIK); accelerometers etc. work all different ways, and AR software *could* take orientation into account. And btw. with augmented reality, all kinds of positions should be prepared for by the browser vendor. With a ducttaped baseball cap headgear, Layar's use case is invalid - you don't wander around in Rome searching for the nearest pizzeria (nothing wrong with the contraption but the baseball caps suck in ge

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

He used a standard AR-Browser (Wikitude, which existed long before Layar) to build a proof-of-concept thing with available hardware and software.
Since the standard use-case for that software is displaying something on the screen of your smartphone, camera orientation matters (even if he's not using the camera in this case).
Of course I wouldn't go wandering around with that stuff on my head, but I think that's not the point. He wanted to prove that it can be done without custom hardware or software.
Reminds m

Re:

[Idbar]

The dual mirror is easier... because requires no screen flipping. But you're right, if you get to fiddle with the device (phone) and flip the screen contents, then a single mirror is better as there's less light losses.

In breaking news...

[enaso1970]

...and the the first thing he looked at WASN'T porn. Which would be a first for any new display technology

Still deserves credit

[Ardyvee]

I guess the whole point of it is to say that it is rather easy to create a (although perhaps rather ugly) HMD. Which is nowhere for use by common folk. The whole point of it proving that there is no real excuse for there not to be on the market other than no demand for it.

Say what you want, but he at least managed to get it working. Which I didn't, and I haven't seen somebody selling one of those.

Previous research

[BlueLightning]

Seems like augmented reality has been a popular research area in Australia for a while. At LCA a few years ago there was a presentation by another PhD student on his AR project and I even got to try out the gear (somewhat bulkier than this latest one though):

http://www.tinmith.net/ [tinmith.net]

Build vs. buy

[SuperKendall]

While his project is cute, there are already commercial solutions [buytvhatnow.com] that are pretty much the same thing.

P.S. I am not responsible if you decide to AR while biking on real roads...

Re:

[mkwan]

The TV Hat looks awesome, but it's a virtual reality setup, not augmented reality. You can't see where you're going while you're wearing it.

Re:

[tehcyder]

The TV Hat looks awesome

You must have been a brilliantly easy kid to buy Christmas presents for.

No, mummy and daddy, I don't need a silly Nintendo DS or iPad. Who needs that when I can have this awesome dirty piece of string tied to a stick?

Re:

[SleazyRidr]

Maybe I'm too jaded, but that TV hat is just a joke, right?

gotta look sharp

[PopeRatzo]

A PhD student in Melbourne, Australia, has built an augmented reality head-up display using a baseball cap, an Android smartphone, and off-the-shelf optics.

Does it have to be a baseball cap? Can I have mine in a propeller beanie or a leopard-skin pillbox hat? Maybe a motorcycle helmet because you know I'm going to be crashing into all kinds of stuff trying to ride my bike while I play Counter-Strike on this thing.

Re:

[SpanglerIsAGod]

I think there are a couple of things holding AR back right now. One is that I don't think object recognition is quite up to the task yet. I don't think we have good software yet that can see a picture of an everyday object and recognize what it is well enough to pull up information about it, and facial recognition still has a high amount of false positives.

Another issue will be privacy. If you think Google can track you now, wait until people start buying Google AR camera/display contacts and they can

I was hoping to buffer reality...

[gestalt_n_pepper]

not augment it, but then I realized that it would just go faster and faster the longer I was in it. That's when I decided to go back to bed.

progress

[k6mfw]

It's sloppy, it has no "value," it will not win awards,.... and that is how progress is made. Value is he went and built something, unlike everybody else simply buys. He has an idea, ideas are a time a dozen, and he created something of substance and that takes time and expense. During that time, he learned what works, what doesn't work, and what parts and tools needed to build things.

I've been going through something similar of packaging 900MHz amateur TV transmitter and a receiver in a box for field use.

Would be interesting

[atari2600a]

if I could build one of these into my motorcycle helmet & have Google Nav on my face shield