“Hello, this is my first instructable, so feedback is greatly appreciated.
Abstract:
This project streams live video from a fish-eye camera onto a wearable heads-up display. The result is a wider field of view within a smaller area (the display is comparable to a 4” screen 12” away from your eye and outputs at 720p). The primary purpose is to provide more spacial awareness to those with Retinitis Pigmentosa (abbreviated as RP), a degenerative eye disease that results in tunnel vision (it is comparable to looking through a toilet paper roll all the time). That being said, because the project is based off an RPi, there is a huge range of possible applications (some of which will be discussed at the end).
Materials List:
(1) Raspberry Pi Zero ($5) (Raspberry Pi Zero W also works) (1) Micro SD Card for Raspberry Pi($8) (just a regular Micro SD card, nothing special. Recommended minimum of 8GB in storage)RPi Externals: (you don’t need these if you already own them or if you have another RPi model)(1) USB Adapter ($5) (1) Mini HDMI to HDMI Cable ($6) (with good enough eyesight, Vufine can be used as a monitor, hence eliminating the need for this cable)(1) Vufine Wearable Display ($200) (1) Micro to Mini HDMI Ribbon Cable ($10) (2) USB Micro Cable ($1-5 each) (just 2 regular micro USB cables, nothing special) (1) Fish-Eye Camera for Raspberry Pi ($25) (1) Raspberry Pi Camera Cable ($8) (1) Pack of Small Zip Ties ($3) Total Cost: ~265 USD (depends on what you already have and how much you pay for shipping)
Tools List:
Wire Cutters Wire Strippers (for wire sizes of about 26 awg) Hot-Glue Gun (and glue stick for said hot-glue gun) Keyboard Screen (must be HDMI capable, but again, with good enough eyesight, Vufine can be used as a monitor) Soldering Iron (and solder) X-Acto KnifePersonal Note:
This project was inspired by my grandmother. She was diagnosed with RP a long time ago and her eyesight has been deteriorating over the years. Recently, she decided to give up her seeing-eye dog, Ventura (nicknamed Seymour, pun intended), because of age. Though this may have made life easier in some aspects, I’m sure it has made other things more trivial (such as walking through a mall). I had already been looking into making a device like this for a while, but there were no readily available (reasonably priced) screens. That changed when I found Vufine. It’s a great company with a great product, and no, I’m not being paid to say this; it’s a genuinely good company. As for my grandmother, she has reported that this device has just about doubled her field of view (in terms of diameter, not area).”