Developing an In-House Augmented Reality Optical-See-Through Head-Mounted Display for Computing Education
Publication Date
2-18-2026
Document Type
Conference Poster
Description
Teaching dynamic computing concepts, such as the quicksort's partitioning step and linked list pointer updates, can be challenging for students to visualize and interact with in real time. Augmented reality (AR) can make these processes tangible by overlaying immediate feedback on the physical objects, but commercial optical see-through head-mounted displays (OST-HMDs) remain costly and closed-source, limiting the adoption within typical classrooms. To address this, we adapted a low-cost OST-HMD open-source project (Project Northstar) for computing education. This in-house OST-HMD uses 3D-printed parts and commodity components, dual micro-displays, and tracking sensors. We documented our experience and provided a practical and repeatable workflow for mechanical assembly and optical calibration, including a troubleshooting guide for commonly faced problems such as how to calibrate the optics for a stable virtual–real alignment. The current prototype operates as a secondary display driven by a host laptop, and software for interactive activities is in active development. Once the software is completed, we will pilot AR activities that walk students through quicksort partitioning and step-by-step linked list pointer updates. We will evaluate learning and usability using pre- and post-quizzes, task-completion times, and a post-task usability survey. This poster contributes (1) a reproducible bill of materials with transparent cost breakdown, (2) 3D-printable models and wiring diagrams, and (3) a calibration workflow with representative results. We aim to provide an open-source replicable OST-HMD build to lower financial and technical barriers to AR adoption in computer science (CS) courses.
Source Publication
SIGCSE TS 2026: Proceedings of the 57th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V.2
Department
Computer Science
Recommended Citation
Ben Khant and Sing Chun Lee. 2026. Developing an In-House Augmented Reality Optical-See-Through Head-Mounted Display for Computing Education. In Proceedings of the 57th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V.2 (SIGCSE TS 2026), Vol. 2. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1395–1396. https://doi.org/10.1145/3770761.3777285