{"id":2004,"date":"2025-06-03T13:19:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T10:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/openar\/?page_id=2004"},"modified":"2025-06-03T16:34:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T13:34:20","slug":"openar10","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/openar\/openar10\/","title":{"rendered":"OpenAR 1.0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Tommi
Our teacher Tommi Itkonen in action.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I was a kid, I was a big fan of MacGyver. I didn\u2019t really think such people existed until I started my physics studies here at the University of Eastern Finland. I ran into all sorts of self-built gadgets that were meant to demonstrate a wide range of physics phenomena. When I took a course in practical electronics<\/a>, it turned out our teacher was the guy who had built all of them. This time he had designed DIY augmented reality (AR)-glasses combining components that just happened to be available. Our task was to construct them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"3D
You want to build your own AR-glasses?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Basically, what you need to create your own AR-glasses, is a way to reflect an image that brings new information to your field of view without blocking your real-world view. Of course, there are many ways to implement this. Since it was relatively easy, I\u2019ll show you how we built such a device, and we even did it using low-cost components.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image that eyes receive comes from a small OLED display and goes through a lens. Light first reflects from a mirror and then partially reflects from glass plates into the viewer\u2019s eyes. This works much in the same way as a red dot sight <\/a>with the exception that it is built for both eyes. The distance of the image we see can be adjusted by changing the angle of the glass plates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Plan
Simplified plan of the glasses we built.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Find out more about light traveling from OLED display to eyes.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are actually tricking the brain a bit. When we look an object that is close to us, our eyes have to rotate inwards, and the closer a thing is, the greater the inward movement must be. When we tilt the glass plates, our eyes have to adjust accordingly to focus on the reflected light. Our brain concludes the distance of the image by the amount of the movement the eyes have to make. And our brain has no idea what we see, is not really there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find out more about human 3D vision.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To call this augmented reality, we couldn\u2019t just add any random image. We needed to add information, so we added sensors to measure things. One prototype we made, was glasses with an ultrasonic sensor to measure distances. I will present this project here, but don\u2019t let it limit your imagination. With some changes, you can use other sensors, or Bluetooth, phone apps, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How To Do It:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In order to build the OpenAR 1.0 glasses, you need a set of components listed below. There are also links to some shops where you can buy them (just to show the kind of parts I mean). The following links will take you to shops like Thorlabs<\/a>, Thermo Fisher Scientific<\/a>, Partco<\/a>, Arduino Store<\/a>, Distrelec<\/a><\/a> and Biltema<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n