Michael Angel's EPI v1 Is a Wearable Cyberdeck with Crowd-Pleasing VR Showcasing Capabilities

Games developer and virtual reality enthusiast Michael Angel has built a wearable, self-contained cyberdeck designed to showcase VR applications to onlookers — using a rear-mounted display and a tech-filled cloth pack: the External Processor Interface (EPI) v1.

"This was originally going to be a project to show off VR to other people from my perspective by having a wearable display on my back with LED lights on my arms tied to Beat Saber light sabers," Angel explains. "Effectively the goal was to augment reality with the VR world for bystanders instead of just having a separated screen that doesn't exactly associate the real world actions with the gameplay. But due to Arduino shortages, I ended up getting a mini PC and the rest of it took off from there."

The EPI v1 — "I hope to continue iterating over this wearable cyberdeck and make it more of a regularly used machine," Angel says, "which is why this is the v1 model" — is built around a miniature PC with an Intel Celeron N5105 processor, 8GB of LPDDR4 memory, and 512GB of solid-state storage. Despite its relatively beefy specifications for a device destined to drive a wearable, it draws a peak of 36W of power — averaging closer to 10W, or less in power-saving mode. Rather than create a custom housing, though, the PC is attached externally to a bag of technological wonders.

"Until extremely recently I didn't even have a 3D printer, I can barely do any 3D modeling of any kind or CAD, I can't sew, I can't really draw, and I'm not very good at creating physical things without pre-made pieces and instructions," Angel explains. "But I know how computer parts and cables work, and I can use a hammer with some other tools. Literally. So, I did exactly that, except without the instructions. I took [the] tiny PC, figured out how to correctly power it with a fat battery and a USB Power Delivery [adapter], and built it into a bag with a bunch of compartments that a tiny backpack wouldn't have, and that a standard backpack would be too bulky and large for."

Coupled with a Tek Gear Twiddler 3 single-handed input and a foldable keyboard mounted to an arm band, Angel's EPI v1 is a fully-functional portable PC — but there's more to the build.

A "Back-Screen" add-on, which houses a large-format monitor on a solid backpack frame, is designed for use with a battery-powered virtual reality head-mounted display to allow crowds at events to see through the wearer's eyes — though the planned wearable LED lighting system has not yet been completed. Other planned improvements include the addition of an IP camera for color pass-through vision and a USB-powered neck fan to keep the wearer cool.

Full details on the EPI v1 are available in Angel's project write-up.