Era defining gadget, made in FreeCAD!

[realthunder]

This is my precious that I've been working for more than two years! When I said 'Era defining', I ought to add 'I hope' somewhere, but I think that goes without saying. And I am not joking either. You know, when you talk about computing device, we have those room size dinosaur era, then comes the PC, then laptops, then smart phones and tablets. The next coming era is, without doubt, wearable device. However, it still lacks an era defining device. A few years ago, we'd all agree that google glass fits the role, but now it just reminds us that it is not that straightforward. So, here it is, my precious, designed from the beginning to fix every mistake google has made, and try to fit that void!

The device is designed to look like a normal headphone. The current design is chunky and oversized obviously. I have enough things to worry about than aesthetics at the moment. But that's the idea, a normal looking headphone, no body will care to take more than a glance. But when you need it, it can transform into the device of the future. See for yourself,

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Another angle,

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Besides the eye drawing feature, it has so much more than meets the eye. First and foremost, you know headphone has two parts. To replace your average smart phone, only half is needed. The other half? It is designed fit in a Intel 2nd generation ComputeStick with iCore CPU! Yes, you can have a laptop on your head, untethered!

And what about power, you may be asking. Yes, the culprit for all portable devices nowadays, I'd argue. Again, headphone has two parts. Each part contains two 18650 battery, each with 10A continuous power output capability. Total power can exceed 12000mAh. It maybe heavy I know, so you can opt to install one instead of two on each side. The two sides form a power-Oring. Meaning that your can hot swap batteries without powering down. So here you go, infinite reloading if you have enough battery, or with today's quick charging technology just keep recharge and replace. Of course, the device has a charger build-in, on each side! There are many other features, like a retractable camera, so no privacy invasion issue, an eye tracking camera, so its possible to go hands-free. And the fact that it can be fit with a device with Intel 6th or newer generation CPU, you can hook it up with intel realsense camera, on your head! A new world is opening... The list goes on...

The device is not completed yet, obviously, or else you'd definitely be hearing of it. I've done 3D printing, mechanics, and preliminary electronics. When tethered, the thing can move now. BTW, it has 7 servos, 2 steppers, 1 solenoid on each side! You can guess the degree of freedom here. I am working on power electronics at the moment. Once done, it shall be able to hook with a real arm board and go untethered.

The optics is a simple mirror reflex see through, very primitive at the moment. I don't have the money or energy to go deep yet. But I do have some exciting ideas, that aim to marry AR with VR. The display is currently in analog, to keep the wiring manageable. Ah... the wiring on this type of device is an absolute nightmare! You see those slick transforming machines on big screen, but when you actually try to make one, you'd be drawn with things like how to route this wire to that place...

Oh, and of course this project is open source. Not only all its source code, pcb, cad file is open, all their authoring tools are open, KiCAD, FreeCAD, etc. Many open hardware used too, like arm dev board, arduino, etc. It is hard to find many project like mine that open all the way. Many of things are on github already, it's just that it's so massive, and really only half finished, I haven't got time to organize them yet. And I do intend to make profit from this. What's better than making living on things you love doing? I am still contemplating how to go in that direction.

More shots

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[realthunder]

And of course the real thing, all printed in nylon,

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[nemesis]

One word :

WOW!

[triplus]

I am thinking you should sort the production side of it out a bit. And after i guess you could try out crowdfunding campaign?

[kkremitzki]

One word :

WOW!

Beat me to it!

[DeepSOIC]

Even though I an not a fan of all this in general,
WOW. What you already done here is very impressive.

Now to the part why I am no fan of this stuff.
The problem is, I fail to find a real use for it. It might be useful as a navigator. But really, what else?

[DeepSOIC]

I'm curious to know, what is that sliding window behind the angled mirror supposed to do? The one that has a rack gear profile on it.

[realthunder]

The problem is, I fail to find a real use for it. It might be useful as a navigator. But really, what else?

Hmm... you use computer a lot, don't you? How would you like to have a computer be part of your body, so that you can use it whenever and wherever your are? This is the future, trust me. You know when you see this on big screen all the time, that someone just clap his hands and a big hologram shows up, and everyone walks through it, talking and doing other cool stuff. That's not physically possible, at least not to my knowledge. What would really happen in the future is that everybody is wearing some device with display and seeing a network shared virtual scene superimposed with reality. That is actually doable today. The future is just to make this device more and more discreet, until may be it can be built into your eye.

That's the roadmap I perceive. So, first step, make the device wearable. There are plenty of them existing today. Why aren't they more popular is because the need of second step, that is to make them discreet. Nobody wants a device permanently stick out of their head, not even a fashionable super slick one like google glass, which force them to manually remove it often, which then partially defeats the purpose of being wearable. So, the second step, make the device stick to the body, and make it come and go easily, You'd argue that nobody wants a big heavy headphone stick on their head, either. Yeah, true. But with the resource I have, that's really the only option for me to take the step in the right direction.

I'm curious to know, what is that sliding window behind the angled mirror supposed to do? The one that has a rack gear profile on it.

This sliding window is supposed to be an electric shutter to adaptively block the sun when needed. A see through display without shutter is useless outdoors.

[DeepSOIC]

I'm curious to know, what is that sliding window behind the angled mirror supposed to do? The one that has a rack gear profile on it.

This sliding window is supposed to be an electric shutter to adaptively block the sun when needed. A see through display without shutter is useless outdoors.

Thanks, got it!

How to input into that device? It has no keyboard, no mouse, no touchscreen, no pen. So what remains? Voice control? That may do as a keyboard, except that you have suddenly to announce what you do to everyone around you . Eye tracking? "Sorry, I can't look at you, I'll screw up my FC project! please wait a bit ". A button/joystick on case? well, not terribly convenient, but may do... A combination of eye tracker and button? may do... but will never beat my laptop with real physical keyboard, touchscreen and pen.

How would you like to have a computer be part of your body, so that you can use it whenever and wherever your are?

Well, I already have my computer almost wherever I am. It's a bit bulky, yes, but really, if I can't use it because it's bulky, then it's probably because the situation is not really appropriate for any intense use of PC.

What would really happen in the future is that everybody is wearing some device with display and seeing a network shared virtual scene superimposed with reality.

Sounds fun, may be useful some day... I have a hard time imagining a real use for it right now, because for me the technology is too abstract.

[DeepSOIC]

Do you have a page somewhere to read some more details about your project? on hackaday maybe...