Goals

The goal of the project is to build a lightweight device that can display visual information in front of the user’s eye. Information to be displayed include the time, the compass heading, and speed.

Design Problem

In the modern age, information has been compacted into convenient small forms such as a smartphone or a smart watch. However, these forms of displaying information still requires the hassle of taking out the phone out of the pocket or looking down at a wrist. The team’s goal is to design an augmented reality smart device that can be attached to glasses to constantly display useful information while minimizing visual interference. Useful information that would be displayed include time, compass, and speed. One of the information options would be displayed from the corner of the eye and a rotary encoder attached to the smart device would be used to scroll through the different information options. My individual role in the project would mainly involve the software design of the system. This would include taking the information from the chip components and configuring the device to display the information in a clean and simple manner that minimizes the obstruction of the eye.

Design Approach

The basic planned approach to the augmented reality smart device is to design a microcontroller and that will present information on a display by reflecting light with optic mirrors. The information displayed will be received from different sensors including a Real-Time Clock, Gyroscope, GPS, and Accelerometer. The information would be displayed one at a time and could be changed using an rotary encoder. Additional improvements could involve using the GPS to create “waypoints” that will save on to the microcontroller and can be displayed on the compass. Another possible long-term goal could be to create a “tracker” that communicates with the smart glasses and can be tracked in 3D space on the screen. Finally, exploring communication with mobile devices could be another possibility that can be explored