I got all the parts necessary to make the ps3 eye cameras see in infrared and tested them. Here are the parts I got (from Peau Productions):
1 850nm bandpass filter (850nm is barely visible red, common in security cams)
1 940nm bandpass filter (invisible, common in remote controls)
2 M12 lens mounts for ps3 eye (M12 is a common adapter for security cam lenses)
M12 lens variety pack, from 2.8mm (wide angle) to 12mm (zoomed)
1 adjustable M12 lens
1 3D printed case (janky but easy to open/close and has tripod screw holes)
You need to dismantle the camera and replace the lens (instructions).
I also got 850nm and 940nm LEDs (100 each, digikey) and retroreflective tape (amazon).
The idea is to put the LEDs right up next to the camera lens, then anything retroreflective bounces the LED light back to the camera and appears bright.
This is some retroreflective tape:
This is what the camera sees:
Note the camera also sees sunlight and incandescent bulbs. But it does not see screens or projections at all. So if we control the conditions, we have a camera setup that can easily pick out retroreflective tape.
One thing we can do with this is track pseudo-screens like the business cards used in the signals prototype. We'd just put a border of retroreflective tape around these.
Or the pseudoscreens on a big board could be movable,
Another thing commonly done with this setup is to have a bunch of cameras in a space and then put little tape markers on objects and track them in 3D, like Ken Perlin's VR setup.
I would also like to experiment with invisible tracking fiducials using IR ink like this project,
Here are some next steps for this project:
1. Design a PCB ring light for the LEDs to go around the camera lens. 8 LEDs would probably be sufficient (I used 2 in above test).
2. Research and buy some IR ink. (Glen, you looked into this at one point?)