This DIY 3D-Printed Google Glass Clone Is All Kinds of Cyberpunk

Proto-cyberpunks rejoice: We’re one small step closer to the neon-washed world of dirty tech and night-shrouded alleyways filled with the unscrupulous vendors of hacked and otherwise DIY devices that we’ve dreamed of since we first had our minds blown by Blade Runner.

Adafruit, a site which caters to all things DIY tech, has released a how-to guide for making your own DIY Google Glass-like augmented goggles with a pair of $100 video glasses, a Raspberry Pi mini-computer, and a 3D printer. Excuse me while I tip my fedora askew and gaze lovingly at my copy of Neuromancer.

Adafruit’s latest project isn’t the first time someone’s tried to make a feasible Glass-like wearable device, but it is the slickest and most effective I’ve seen yet. There have been humorously clunky and slightly embarrassing attempts in the past, as well as a hulking steampunk version.

The latest try makes use of 3D printing, DIY hobbyists’ favourite buzzy future-is-now technology. The process described in the guide is relatively simple. Basically, you dismantle a pair of video glasses according to the instructions, and fit the components you need into a 3D-printed plastic enclosure, which you can customize to your face. Plug it in to a Raspberry Pi and boom, you’re basically a Nexus-6. Sort of. What the wearable computer can do is really up to your coding skills.

This may be what separates the true cyberpunks from the poseurs: Raspberry Pi doesn’t exactly run Android out of the box, and certainly isn’t capable of augmenting your reality right away. The hardware is one thing, but the software is quite another. Currently, Raspberry Pi can run several different operating systems, including Linux, and the open source platform leaves the door wide open for what this thing could feasibly do. And budding cyberpunks are already hard at work hacking the knockoff Glass.

At the end of the day, it’s a way go high-tech on a shoestring budget. A basic Arduino board starts at $55, and the set of NTSC/PAL video glasses cost around $100. You’ll also need a keypad, since voice command technology is unfortunately still out of reach. All told it’d cost you ballpark $200, while Google’s high-tech device sports a $1,500 price tag. However, that's not including the cost of a 3D printer, though they’re starting to get cheaper and break out of the hobbyist niche.

The DIY wearable tech movement reaches far beyond homebrew Glass alternatives. MetaWear sells a tiny chip that allows you to make wearable tech of your own design right out of the box, and within 30 minutes—at least, so they claim. The package deal includes sample apps to get you started, a Github account with API libraries. The DIY fashion and tech worlds are also intersecting, birthing the “soft electronics” movement. Take for example Adafruit’s FLORA platform, which makers can use to design mechanical clothing like this skirt that sparkles when you walk.

So, future vendors and patrons of neon-lit night markets in dystopian neo-metropolises, your night-shrouded future awaits. Can you see it through that clunky piece of DIY Glass on your face?