Psychedelic Smart Glasses with WS2812 Rings

Like many hacked projects, this pair of “smart glasses” started out as what creator Facelesstech describes as “a stupid idea” that he followed through on to see if it was possible. The build consists of a pair of eight NeoPixel-style LED rings embedded on the inside of sunglasses, obscuring a large part of your view, but making you look oh-so-cool… or at least very noticeable at night.

The NeoPixel rings are driven by an ATtiny85 chip on a small custom PCB, manufactured in a way that it sits nearly flush with the right arm. This board also features a set of DIP switches to change between different visible modes. These appear to be: single-color, rainbow, fading, and chase — though one could certainly reprogram it for special occasions, if so desired.

While there’s no programming port per se, the ATtiny85 is arranged so that it can be accessed with a spring loaded “chip clip” programmer, which came in handy after Facelesstech everything together without a bootloader installed. Power is provided by an AAAA LiPo scavenged from a disposable e-cigarrette. It’s small enough to be embedded in that glasses’ rather substantial left arm, and is held in place there with heat shrink.

Facelesstech notes that he wishes he’d had something like this “back when I used to go out.” The good news though is that he’s put code and board files up on GitHub, and the project is also described in the video below. Perhaps you can make a pair yourself and put the glasses to use in their proper environment!