Often labelled as something out of a science fiction flick, the promise of digital displays in your contact lens is not that far away. While the idea of circuitry being built into contact lens has been around for a few years now, it’s only been recently that real progress has been made on this front.
Researchers at the University of Washington last year managed to create a contact lens which successfully embedded micro-circuitry and lighting small enough to be etched into the surface of a flexible surface like a contact lens. This year SBG Labs, an optical technology company based in California, pushed the boundaries of this technology further by implementing holographic optics into the contact lens. The use of solar powered micro circuitry and wireless technology being built into contact lens, we could see local real world data being fed straight through to your eyes.
Read on for a more in-depth look at the technology behind this and my opinion on it.
For those interested in reading deeper into the technology in question, the following is taken from Anne Eisenberg’s article “Inside These Lenses, a Digital Dimension”:
The technology uses a process called holographic optics. Light-emitting laser diodes in the projector, stored in the side of the frame, shoot their highly concentrated beams forward to the eyeglass surface. There, computerized, transparent devices called holographic gratings diffract light in ways that ordinary optical components like prisms can’t, steering it to the user’s eyes.
Dr. Parviz of the University of Washington has also managed to implement miniaturized electronics and optoelectronics into the lens.
The light-emitting diodes and other semiconductor components of the display are made separately, then moved to the lens, which is made of the same plastic used in beverage bottles. Then the entire device gets a biocompatible coating.
“We embed everything in polymers similar to those in standard contact lenses,” he said. “The electronics and photonics are inside the plastic, so users won’t come in contact with them.”
So far, the group has been able to light up and control a single pixel. But the team hopes to increase the number of pixels gradually, to make higher resolutions, he said. “We will increase the resolution, and add color eventually,” he said.
The implications for this kind of technology are phenomenal. Think of the merging between virtual reality and the real world and you’re beginning to take a step in the right direction. Soldiers out on the field, along with their bullet dodging body armour could potentially replace the large and heavy heads up displays that come with certain helmets (helicopter pilots for example) and have small miniaturized contacts lens that display information on top of what they see in front of them. This could be used to colorize targets as being friendly, cutting down on potential friendly fire incidents or could display mission objectives by way of arrows laid on top of what he/she sees in front of them.
On a consumer level, aside from the obvious medical enhancements (curing old age vision deterioration?) we could be seeing it implemented in all walks of life. Imagine you’re shopping at your favourite store, can’t find a price tag? No problem, the price tag could be superimposed on top of the item of clothing you were holding along with up to date information on what other sizes are available or if there is a discount on the product.
If you’re walking down a street and you bump into somebody you know but perhaps their name has slipped your memory. It’s happened to us all I’m sure. But what if imaging software on the contact lens could bring up facial recognition software integrated into your mobile phonebook or Facebook or Outlook address book and float a label above said person’s head identifying his name along with any notes you put him under like “Ex-girlfriend’s sister - Avoid” or “Mother - buy mother’s day present before next Tuesday”.
The list of possible uses for this technology is endless and truly astounding. Whether or not this may be a step too far into us becoming a Cyborg race or not is still up for debate. But the promise of supervision and no more trips to get my eyes tested at the opticians? Count me in.
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