High School Student Designs Snap-together Cardboard, Kickstarter Now Live

A high school student from Perth, Australia, has launched a Kickstarter campaign focused on a novel plastic VR smartphone adapter, that unlike many designs on the market actually snaps apart to retain its flat pack portability.

Since its initial release back in summer of 2014, Google Cardboard has been an unintimidating way to introduce a first VR experience to friends and family. It’s light, easy to use, and comes in a flat pack that contains everything you need to get started consuming the hundreds of Cardboard apps on Google Play. But for Ethan Bloom, a high school student in Perth, Australia, there were a few things missing from Cardboard’s design.

Bloom calls the project FlatVR, a fitting name for a device that features 6 snap-together pieces that can be packed flat again at a moments notice—with the total disassembled stack measuring just over an inch thick. FlatVR is designed to fit a wide variety of phones too via its universal fitting mechanism. The high schooler even received the help of an optometrist to consult on the design, saying the widened opening was built to comfortably allow glasses wearers to keep their spectacles on during sessions.

FlatVR Kickstarter Campaign 

Modeled in his 3D design course at school, the teenager also produced prototypes of FlatVR on his home 3D printer. Bloom has projected the final injection molded device to weigh only 90 grams, providing he reaches his $15,000 AUD (~$12,000 USD) funding goal, with delivery of the finished piece set for August 2015.

See Also: Google Launches ‘Works With Google Cardboard’ Certification for VR Smartphone Adapters

Here’s a look at the reward tiers for FlatVR’s crowdfunding campaign.