This DIY laser tag project designed by (Nii) was brought to Tokyo Maker Faire in September and is a treasure trove. It’s all in Japanese, and you’ll need to visit X (formerly Twitter) to see it, but the images do a good job of getting the point across, and your favorite translation tool does the rest well.
There’s a lot to admire about this project. The swing-out transparent OLED display is super sleek, the electronics are housed on a single PCB, and the back half of the grip is actually a portable USB power bank that plugs directly in to provide power. Masu. Short RGB LED strip for effects.
The inspired design can also be seen in the optical elements. An infrared LED points forward and, with the help of a lens, focuses the beam tightly enough to make aiming meaningful. To detect strikes, the top of the pistol conceals a custom-built reflector that directs infrared light to a downward-facing receiver, making it omnidirectional in terms of strike sensing, although only one sensor is needed. Only one.
Want to know more? Check out early prototypes on the (Nii) website. It’s clear that this has been in the works for quite some time, so if you like seeing how projects develop, you’ll probably enjoy it.
What about the choice of transparent OLED displays? They sure are cool and we remember how wild they look when you stack a few of them together.
