Immersive HMD (Head Mounted Display)

Step 4 Final Product and Future Upgrades

The final product not only looks cool, but it really fun to play games on!

Future Upgrades:
- Better camera (HD, auto focus, high frame rate, wide FoV)
- Better lenses (larger viewing area, removing the slight "tunnel" look)
- Fully adjustable lens mounts (different users can adjust to their eyes)
- IR LEDs (allowing the camera to see in low light)
- Head Movement sensor
- HUD (including displays of battery life and other useful info)
- Area microphone (allowing the unit to pick up and intelligently amplify sounds)

It is my goal to eventually make these good enough to wear without hindering vision or hearing!

Comments

[tox1cchicken]

what does this look like from the inside? I.e. looking through the googles?

[ghostrider2]

is there any way you could use additional cameras to use an eye tracking program to eliminate the need of a mouse and keyboard?

[KevinAlien26]

You should check out what some guys did with the playstation eye. eye tagging or some sort. It was pretty neat and seems to may be of use to you

[Lyokoking99]

Most regular cams won't work for that I don't believe, but you could replace a mouse and keyboard with a button board in the palm of a hand on a glove, and a joystick on there to use as a mouse.

[carrotman42]

Facel eg. lip and eyes or whatever isn't too hard to do and there are many programs tracking eyes: faceapi and manyCam are just two I have on my computer. There is one for PPJoy code to change facal movements into actions but tbh speech recognision IS easier and will be more accerate as more people look into that market.

[BodenM]

How about modifying a Nintendo Power Glove from the NES? It has a keypad and a D-Pad.

[tinker234]

that be cool

[dvnkmmy]

Two Questions:
1: What is the power source?
2: How do your hear anything with the headphones.
Im only asking because it looks good for like Nerf or airsoft wars, but i just need to know how hearing works with that thingy

[dvnkmmy]

i might just use this for next years sci fair project on Military use

[Banfield Design]

I have started a military concept already, if you want I could give you the information on what features it would have? It uses the laptop (in a small backpack) for all of its power, so far this gives it a life of around 4-5 hours on its own, though I carry the power cord in the pack and plug it in where I can. The headphones are "open air" so the grilles on the side let sound through. In future I will switch over to sealed ones, and let some good microphones and software do the work

[tinker234]

please send me some blueprints i hope to start a concept suit next year to gather plans and money to make a concept suit

[Thundertydus]

Great instructable! Could use a little more detail, but it's understandable that it shifts between parts.

I was thinking of mounting this into a replica helmet from a video game, but also adding IR lights on the sides for night vision, do webcams have IR filters?

[LetsExplodeSomething]

I agree it's a great idea but the instructable itself needs more detail

[Kindhamster]

most cameras are able to pick up ir light.
If you're willing to pay a bit, you can by security cameras that are designed to run on ir light. all you have to do is take the ir leds out of the camera housing and voila.

[dziedzicadam]

Would love a full detail on the military style units.

[dvnkmmy]

that would be nice!! I have an old mac that i dont use. would that work? What would protect the camera? I am really interested in this :D

[specopps117]

You have not made what you said you did... you made a head mounted camera, but not a display....

[carrotman42]

He runs the images though the small screens in the glasses. That is what he means by the display.

[Pale_Flyer]

Make sure the camera can actually see more than a faint glow from the IR LEDs, if it can't, then you will need to go into the camera and change a filter... i saw this on another instructable that i cant remember, but it was for cell phone cams, although the principle should be the same...

[Tanostalgia]

 Could you do a Nightvision off this ?

[joshparker_218]

is there any way to make it completely free of the laptop?

[Lance Mt.]

Yes, however it will be a slightly different build.

http://jakehildebrandt.com/2007/09/30/25-head-mounted-display/
and
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-cheap-heads-display-hud-164805/

Get back to you on more. I want a Vegta style scouter XD

[tlingbeck]

 This is a great idea and I love it! However, I'm not sure where to find a PMV. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find a very cheap one? Or just any at all? Any advice would be very helpful!

[marinekid]

include an IR camera or a camera capable of viewing in IR, so you could have night-vision. Also, for the hell of it, include a tiny (500mW) laser so you can have Cyclops-style laser vision!!!

[ricardjorg]

All cameras view IR. Just try with yor cellphone and the tv remote. you can't see the remote light but the camera can. 
All he needed to do was to put some ir leds behind the lens.. or in the side of the glasses

[itsthatsguy]

Not true, Most CCD based cameras see IR, but nicer cameras add an IR filter so it blocks out the ir, you can remove these (on cell phones they generally don't exist).

[ricardjorg]

 Yeah, i know. There are people who change the filter settings so that the camera almost only captures the IR to create crazy color photos.. Its awesome

See here: the trees get white, and the grass brown, but the sky stays blue

[itsthatsguy]

I am one of those people =p

[ricardjorg]

 Yeah? So why aren't you showing us that right now? Just kidding =D
But you could show us some of your work. I love stuff like that

[kingbirdy]

Your comment just made my day.

[marinekid]

i feel special

=D

[ricardjorg]

 Really? Wow, why?

[marinekid]

because a show of kindness to anyone is a show of kindness to me...

...

that was a bit sappy

[Fashim]

Yea i think you can See IR through 3D glasses or something ive seen it somewhere but im not sure if its 100% but this is pretty Awesome

[ricardjorg]

 I read your comment and i war pretty sure that wasn't possible, but tried anyway. I used the stereoscopic (blue and red lens) and the polarized (grey lens from the modern movies) and neither could see the infrared of my tv remote.
Just stick with your cellphone camera that's always around =D

[Fashim]

Alright its good to know that that wont work im gonna make this so i can roam around the Kitchen at 2 AM in the morning without having to turn the light on

[CuniX from Italy]

first: NICE JOB! it's a cool idea!

second: I try to expose my idea (try because my english is terrible).. If you can take a wii remote control and apposit bar(or make them with two IR led), configure them to work with computer (you can find how in some sites on web), and mount the bar or only the two IR on the side of your glasses. now put the nunc of wii in front of you (pointed on you) and you can use the movements of your head intead of movement of mouse. 
I think that can take some times to configure and take practice..but you obtain a powerfull headset for gaming :D

naturally if you can switch between camera vision and screen input.

[Zovits]

Isn't it annoying to see the world in monoscopic?
I'd try to add another camera, so that they would be just in front of the screens, so the screens would show stereoscopic images.
And of course it isn't good for anything without a good software, but I hope that is also on the way.
Having a laptop (maybe with mobile internet connection) as the processing unit would give it very impressing abilities, including but not limited to scanning a barcode (or qr code) and displaying it's meanings, looking at a map and highlighting your position (using a GPS module connected to the laptop), or just using a sheet of plain white paper as a display and a laser pointer as a mouse. Hell, it may even recognize the faces of people I meet and show their names floating above their heads...
...
After thinking through these, now I know that I need to have this thing as soon as it comes out :)

[kingbirdy]

good ideas, mate.

[FreeTom]

Not being much of a gamer myself, I'd like to see this sort of thing applied the same way, heck you might even be able to detect cameras and blind them with an IR laser. Who knows what you could do with this kind of thing to start with...