EyeTap Is a DIY Raspberry Pi-Based AR Eyeglass with Thermal Vision

To date, the consumer market has been less than enthusiastic about commercial augmented-vision wearables. Google Glass was famously launched amid privacy concerns, and received poor critical reception and just plain bad sales. DIY alternatives have popped up here and there—we’ve even featured some of them here, but they lacked the scope of the project we’re talking about today.

That project is University of Toronto’s EyeTap, which was created by Steve Mann and his students at the University’s EyeTap Personal Imaging Lab. The goal of EyeTap is to provide an open source augmented-vision wearable that utilizes truly advanced technology and techniques. And, most importantly, one that you can build yourself.

That’s not a promise for the future, it’s something you can do right now by following Mann’s tutorial. The build will require a handful of 3D printed parts, a Raspberry Pi Zero W, a Raspberry Pi Spy Camera, some optical components, and a handful of miscellaneous hardware. From there, it’s just a matter of assembling the pieces and installing the software.

Once you’ve got it up and running, there are a number of tasks the EyeTap can handle. You can use it for simple lifelogging, for facial recognition, or even for thermal imaging. That last feature takes advantage of a “hot mirror,” which reflects heat for visual processing. The EyeTap community is active and developing new applications for the device, so now is a great time to get involved.