The latest innovation in contact lens technology has been revealed. Researchers at Ghent University in Belgium are engineering a contact lens with an embedded curved LCD. This will let wearers project their texts and emails onto their visual field. With many other exciting eye wear projects underway, the competition is fierce to see which will win the race to bring their products to consumers first.
The Competition:
This new LCD contact lens is the latest addition to a recent string of revolutionary eyewear that are due to hit the public market over the next few years. Google sparked huge interest when it announced Project Glass, an exciting technology project which is designing a pair of glasses that will create an augmented reality for the wearer.
This was closely followed by iOptik by Innovega. This huge project encompasses a wide range of future contact lens technology including lenses that allow the wearer dual focus, and lenses that project an augmented reality by using intelligent wireless transmission (similar to Google’s Project Glass).
There are many other innovative projects underway which hope to reshape the way that we consider eye wear technology forever. These include contact lenses which can monitor the blood sugar levels of people with diabetes through their tear glands. The lens will change colour if their glucose level becomes too high. If successful, this will change the lives of people with diabetes forever as it will replace the finger prick test which so many find uncomfortable.
The application of eye-tracking technology, through the wear of contact lenses, is becoming increasingly diverse and adaptable. Manchester police, in collaboration with the BBC and the Open University used them in a psychology experiment where they tested the reliability of eye witness testimony. Eye tracking lenses are being used to help people suffering from Locked-In Syndrome to communicate with others as they are able to spell words by looking at letters on an onscreen keyboard. And most recently they are being adapted for use in gaming such as in the upcoming Sony PlayStation 4.
The Latest Contender:
This latest technology has, for the first time, successfully inserted a spherical LCD into a contact lens which can display letters and symbols. This means that computer generated information, such as a text message, will be sent to the lens by wireless transmission and overlaid onto the real world. This means that the wearer will be able to see and read their text on their visual field.
With all of these creative and helpful applications of technology due to hit the public market within the next 5 years, it’s impossible not to speculate which will reach us first, and which will be the most successful.
