Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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We built a computer with a built in floating holographic(ish) display using a Raspberry Pi and a 150-year-old optical illusion.

Meet Pepper Pi - a Raspberry Pi 5-powered Pepper’s Ghost display inside a glass dome that creates a floating, transparent UI.

It’s part retro illusion, part modern embedded system, and entirely impractical in the best way.

We combined:
- Raspberry Pi 5
- Round LED display
- Glass dome
- Pepper’s Ghost optical illusion
- Custom 3D-printed base

to build a floating “hologram-style” interface you can actually interact with.

🧠 What is Pepper’s Ghost?
A 19th-century optical illusion that reflects images to create the appearance of a floating object. We modernised it using a Raspberry Pi-driven display system.

🧪 WHAT WE USED
Raspberry Pi 5 (16GB)
LED round display
Glass dome
Transparent reflector
Custom 3D printed base

🔗 LINKS & FILES
GitHub (code + 3D models):
github.com/veebch/pepper

Reflector calculator:
https://www.veeb.ch/projects/the-valley-beneath-the-pepper-dome

Joshua Ellingson:
instagram.com/ellingson.tv

⏱ CHAPTERS
00:00 The Dome Has a Secret
00:40 Why we abandoned the “perfect” radio case
01:55 Pepper’s Ghost explained
02:14 Mathematical interlude
03:24 Assembly
04:43 Does it actually work?
05:35 Demo
06:30 Giveaway

💬 SOCIALS
VEEB Shop: https://www.veeb.ch/store
GitHub: github.com/veebch
Instagram: instagram.com/v_e_e_b
Facebook: facebook.com/Veeb.projects
Email: hello@veeb.ch

🎬 CREDITS
Clip from Napoleon Dynamite used under fair use for commentary/education.

🧇 GIVEAWAY
Build it yourself or win ours.
Leave a 🧇 waffle-themed poem in the comments for a chance to win the full kit (Raspberry Pi 5 included!).
Ends March 26th, 2025 — global shipping included.

#peppersghost #raspberrypi #diytech #physicalcomputing #hologram #veebprojec