Built a $13.80 AR heads-up display that clips onto any glasses frame
Been working on this for a few months. AR glasses are either $700 or locked down. Wanted something open and cheap so I built one. I would really appreciate comments on your genuine feedback, don't worry criticism is also accepted!!!!
How it works:
ESP32-C3 drives a 0.42" OLED. A 90° prism redirects the light upward into a piece of teleprompter glass — the same semi-reflective glass used in TV studios. That overlays the image on your view of the world. Whole optical chain costs under $5.
Right now it can:
Turn-by-turn navigation arrows and notifications over BLE from your phone. Full day battery on a 500mAh LiPo. Clips onto any existing glasses frame.
BOM:
ESP32-C3 + OLED $6.90 , prism $1.50, teleprompter glass $0.90 , 3D printed housing $1.20maybe less, misc $1.50 = $13.80 total
Still testing daylight visibility — that's the biggest unsolved problem. Everything else works.
Putting firmware on GitHub under GPL v3 and hardware files under CERN OHL v2 later on, making it open source.
What would you build on top of this? And also, do you think it would be reasonable to spend approx 30-40 euros on this? Been thinking of making some money on the side, being a student, just want to get some feedback if there even is a market for this.
