Technology

The concept of this project was realized by building two masks that switch users’ sight, hearing and speech. Each mask consists of:

1) BeagleBoard. This is the core of each mask. All inputs are connected to and processed through these little things. You can purchase them from a number of sources outlined here. I’ve also made a tutorial on how to wire them up specifically for this project.

2) Web cam. I used cheap GigaWare web cams bought from RadioShack. It has a build-in microphone which is very useful for the purposes of this project.

3) MyVu Personal Media Viewer. These are glasses that have tiny LCD screens inside of them. They are now discontinued but you can get them relatively cheap on eBay. In particular I used the “universal” edition; it’s the one that comes with a bunch of AV cables.

4) An Intercom System. I got a two-way intercom system that includes 2 units. I simply took them out of the plastic shell and mounted them inside each mask as is.

6) Cabling. For each mask I had to get:

• 5V power supply.
• 3.5mm to RCA cable.
• RCA to S-Video converter.
• USB extension cable.
• RCA extension cable.

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