AR measuring instrument was designed to help make better, ergonomic augmented reality displays

Looking half like a futuristic optician’s instrument and half steampunk headgear, the Test Tool was designed by Seoul-based BEBOP Design to allow them to figure out the exact placement for AR displays on a motorcycle helmet. Eventually, the tool blossomed into a comprehensive measuring device that could possibly make AR headsets much more optically accurate and comfortable in the future. With a variety of sliders, gauges, calibration dials, and other moving parts, Test Tool helps locate the highest clarity point of an AR window, helping designers and engineers develop much better face-mounted HUDs.

Designer: BEBOP Design

The design language of the Test Tool naturally communicates its fundamental purpose of precision. The Test Tool’s simple, yet reassuring design allows the user to adjust their settings without needing to see.

The Test Tool is available in all-black with white markings to make it easy to read. Adjustment features on the head-arch allow you to secure the Test Tool to the wearer’s head snugly, fitting them just the way a helmet would.

A slider on the front, running parallel to the bridge of your nose, lets you adjust a piece of glass towards or away from your face while also configuring its angle. This glass reflects the helmet’s AR imagery directly into your eye, giving you visual elements superimposed directly over the world in front of you. This display, however, sits below your eye level instead of at it, which means virtual objects don’t obstruct your view of the road. The tool helped calculate the perfect screen distance for the average rider, directly informing the helmet’s design. For better clarity control, a secondary lens unit could be adjusted manually by each rider.

The Test Tool ultimately helped inform the AR helmet’s overall design. A half-face prototype of the helmet was recently unveiled by Datechniq (image below), showcasing a uniquely shaped visor, designed to accommodate the reflective AR display. Although the helmet is still in development, the Test Tool, which acts as an anthropometric indicator to make ergonomically sound display units, is quite interesting.