Pandora As A Wearable Computer

[Klepto]

I'm thinking of turning my Pandora into the brain of a wearable computer, there's some discussion in this thread about it. In short, I want to outfit a shirt or jacket with a Pandora and a USB hub. Somewhere, possibly on the back of a glove on my left hand I want one of these to use as an input device. For display I'm looking at the AV920 from here with some kind of webcam mounted on it. At some point I may want to add GPS and/or head tracking.

I have a couple of questions...

The USB hub says it works with laptops, can I assume from this that there will be no problems with the hub and Pandora batteries trying to charge each other?

I've never owned a webcam, are there any problems with having more than one connected to the Pandora? The HMD has a stereoscopic mode, presumably with alternate frames going to each eye, this would be useful for augmented reality.

What other devices might I want?

 

[ingrin]

I've no idea about the hub, but the title of this thread reminded me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhwbxEfy7fg
Which, I think would be an ideal ad campaign for the Pandora...

 

[mali]

I've no idea about the hub, but the title of this thread reminded me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhwbxEfy7fg
Which, I think would be an ideal ad campaign for the Pandora...


crawl over the floor laughing :lol:

 

[nubie]

Well, yet again I must point out that the BeagleBoard is $150, and you can pick up a spare battery for the Pandora (at least Craig has promised this.) http://beagleboard.org/

It will be thinner for jacket integration, and it uses DVI so you can connect the screen/HMD with that or S-Video.

I like the idea of all of these ancillary projects, but I feel that most of the hard work and engineering in the Pandora is thrown out the window when we ditch the form factor it comes in.

For a Jacket for instance, you could make do with a very slim beagleboard, and save nearly $200 US to put into the other stuff you need for a wearable computer. I think most if not all software should be compatible, although you will need another Wifi/BT device, but it could be USB 2.0.

Just a thought, keep on thinking, it sounds neat.

 

[(naw)mcx]

I've no idea about the hub, but the title of this thread reminded me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhwbxEfy7fg
Which, I think would be an ideal ad campaign for the Pandora...




Pandora As A Wearable Computer TO Dick in a box.

I REALLY, REALLY don't want to know the train of a thought that lead to that.

 

[RetiredAccount]

I think those things will only make you go blind

 

[gruso]

Sound advice from Nubie.

 

[Hooka]

Heh, I can only imagine if a perv bought the pandora rights (or whatever they hold) and made pandora v2 perv edition that was a matching suit jacket and shoes with a camera in the shoe ... it would also come with a box with a hole in it...

 

[grasshoppir]

i hope you fail

 

[CCmachined]

Well, yet again I must point out that the BeagleBoard is $150, and you can pick up a spare battery for the Pandora (at least Craig has promised this.) http://beagleboard.org/

It will be thinner for jacket integration, and it uses DVI so you can connect the screen/HMD with that or S-Video.

I like the idea of all of these ancillary projects, but I feel that most of the hard work and engineering in the Pandora is thrown out the window when we ditch the form factor it comes in.

For a Jacket for instance, you could make do with a very slim beagleboard, and save nearly $200 US to put into the other stuff you need for a wearable computer. I think most if not all software should be compatible, although you will need another Wifi/BT device, but it could be USB 2.0.

Just a thought, keep on thinking, it sounds neat.



beagleboard != Pandora. they're similiar, but i hear "beaglebard apps will have to be ported over to Pandora". not sure to be honest.

 

[gmanx]

..reminded me of the forearm computer one of the team had in Resident Evil (movie). Could be very cool...

 

[klikklak]

I can't find any info about running beagleboard with a battery. It looks like it'd be too troublesome to do. Maybe the optimal solution would still require using a laptop

EDIT: well I finally found th peripherals and it looks pretty good, there's a case and battery charger for cheap.

 

[Klepto]

Well, I've gone ahead and ordered the parts, so by the time my Pandora arrives I'll have everything, I'll let you know how I get on. I Take the point about Beagleboard but I still really like the Pandora as I'm getting one anyway. I still plan to use my Pandora in my hands as normal, both as a display unit and input device, but I am interested in wearable computing and augmented reality. The HMD technology isn't as advanced as I'd like, but in 2-5 years it will be (with a proper non-occluded discreet hi-res HMDs at affordable prices), and having something right now will let me play with the software side of things which is where my interest mainly lies.

 

[mali]

Well, I've gone ahead and ordered the parts, so by the time my Pandora arrives I'll have everything, I'll let you know how I get on. I Take the point about Beagleboard but I still really like the Pandora as I'm getting one anyway. I still plan to use my Pandora in my hands as normal, both as a display unit and input device, but I am interested in wearable computing and augmented reality. The HMD technology isn't as advanced as I'd like, but in 2-5 years it will be (with a proper non-occluded discreet hi-res HMDs at affordable prices), and having something right now will let me play with the software side of things which is where my interest mainly lies.

Great
I hold my thumbs for your project

 

[litphoenix]

Wearable computer, why is it when I saw that topic, the very first thing I thought was PipBoy

 

[Sphinxter]

I've no idea about the hub, but the title of this thread reminded me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhwbxEfy7fg
Which, I think would be an ideal ad campaign for the Pandora...




Pandora As A Wearable Computer TO Dick in a box.

I REALLY, REALLY don't want to know the train of a thought that lead to that.


Pandora -> box and then well you have to mount it somewhere... hmm mount it...

 

[t22r91s]

Wearable computer, why is it when I saw that topic, the very first thing I thought was PipBoy

It could be because your a fallout nerd. Or because this design is going to turn into our own personal pipboys and it will be god. Anyone up for hiding in a vault?

 

[valhalla]

beagleboard != Pandora. they're similiar, but i hear "beaglebard apps will have to be ported over to Pandora". not sure to be honest.

beagleboard and pandora are definitely compatibile, since they use (almost) the same chip; the big difference (for software) between them lies in the outputs available: apps for the beagleboard that make use of a full "big" monitor resolution for their interface will need a port, i.e. a remake of said interface.

 

[Klepto]

If I hadn't already paid for a Pandora then I'd probably go with the Beagleboard, but as it is I see no reason to get one at this stage. Yes I'm going to be limited to TV res in the HMD, but HMD tech isn't really where if needs to be anyway. Having the Pandora available as an input method and display is highly desirable.

I've started writing SDL bindings for gforth with a view to writing the interface for this thing. Initially I plan on writing an SDL app, but that may develop into something more like a window manager. Any suggestions on the software side of things would be appreciated, I know there are some positively gifted people here.

I've been thinking a bit more about the pointing device after watching this. It struck me that I may be able to do something similar by putting fluorescent tape on my fingertips. Clicking may be a problem but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, multi-touch is a highly desirable feature.

I know that some people think I'm crazy for doing this but I think it should be huge fun. I don't think I'm expecting too much, the hardware seems capable and as long as I don't have to reverse engineer drivers for anything I should be capable of most of the software stuff myself.

 

[VRAndy]

Problem with wearables is decent displays.

Where are the small, see-through HUD displays that science fiction has promised us?

I want a device that looks and feels like my normal prescription glasses, but has (at least) a monochrome 80x40 terminal window projected into one of my eyes, overlayed over what I'm viewing.

Opaque VR facemounts are finally getting within reach of a enthusiast, so where are our HUDS?!?


Anyway, since you're going to use a whole Pandora instead of just a BeagleBoard, you might as well try to use all you're paying for and consider mounting it somewhere where you can reach the controls. Perhaps to your forearm.


Edit : Oh hey, with some sort of motion capture you could probably get ARQuake running on Pandora. Motion capture that precise is tricky and expensive though. (Perhaps some sort of optical solution could be worked out?)