Say “Nope” to Conversations with These LCD Shutter Glasses

In human-to-human interactions, body language is arguably more important than words are. Body language tells strangers on the train to leave you alone when you have your headphones on. Body language tells that guy at the bar that you’re not interested. And, most importantly, body language through eye contact tells people “hey, come and talk to me!” If you don’t want people to come and talk to you, you should avoid eye contact, which is exactly what these Nope Glasses are made for.

Matt over at Hackaday.io designed the Nope Glasses so that they automatically darken with a quick gesture. They work thanks to a pair of LCD shutters positioned in front of the lenses of the glasses. LCD shutters use the same technology as your LCD monitor, except they’re transparent. When voltage is applied, the LCD pixels are turned on in order to darken the shutter. When Matt wants to avoid a conversation, all he has to do is perform a downward hand movement and the shutters will become more opaque so that would-be conversation starters can’t make eye contact.

The Nope Glasses are gesture-controlled with an APDS9960 gesture sensor connected to an Arduino-compatible Mini SS Micro ATmega32U4 module. Those, along with the LCD shutters themselves, are attached to Matt’s glasses with a 3D-printed mount designed in OpenSCAD. The wiring is simple: the gesture sensor communicates with the microcontroller via I2C, and the LCD shutters are activated with just two pins. The code just waits for the gesture, and then turns on the LCD shutters — effectively blocking eye contact and stopping conversations before they start.