Future Contact Lenses Can Put Pixels on Our Eyeballs
If you've ever become frustrated by the failure of the heads up display (HUD) staple of modern video games to actually exist, your angst may soon be at an end. A joint research project between the University of Washington and Finland's Aalto University has resulted in the creation of a prototype that allows the projection of digital images onto a contact lens.
Consisting of a 500 X 500 um2 silicon harvester and radio integrated circuit (plus an antenna), it contains a a custom-designed micro-light emitting diode with Peak emission of 475 nm, placed on a 750 x 750 um2 transparent (synthetic) sapphire chip. The whole thing is integrated onto a standard contact lens. An alternate version with micro-Fresnel lenses (Fresnel lenses, incidentally, were invented for use in lighthouses) was also developed, and both versions have been tested on live, anesthetized rabbits with no apparent ill-effects.
At present, the device can only display 1 pixel of data. Not enough for the consumer to scroll through their personal inventory, set a map destination or select a mission, but a staggering development nonetheless.
"A display with a single controllable pixel could be used in gaming, training, or giving warnings to the hearing impaired," the researchers say. "We also believe it is possible to develop systems with better resolution, color, range and computing power. Displays with a handful of pixels could be used to provide directional information, and displays with hundreds of pixels used to read short emails or text messages." Which is to say, within our lifetimes we may see the elimination of devices as cumbersome as our tiny smartphones in favor of HUD visible only to the contact lens-wearer. Which means, of course, that High School message-passing will become much harder to police.
Lest we get too excited, 'full color, stand-alone contact lens displays' are still years away, and this device is more meant to prove the technology is possible, rather than fast-track the transition to fully augmented reality. More importantly, the power source, though wireless, has very limited range. Outside the body it can draw a charge from a source around 1 meter away. Implanted, that distance declines to an all-but-useless 2 centimeter range. Not very practical, as wireless power goes, but on the bright side, that working biofuel battery we learned about back in October suddenly has exciting real-world applications.
The abstract is currently available on the Journal of Micromechanis and Microengineering. A video explaining part of the technology behind this development is available below.
... and don't forget X-ray vision
... and don't forget X-ray vision
1 pixel? Was it visibly sharp? What was the perceived size of that pixel? Don't forget eyes have limited focal point depending on the distance.
They're developing this to advertise directly to your eyes XD
deus ex: human revolution like augments will come sooner than we think, dont know if the article was ever posted here or not.
if you are useing an outside apperatice, you can get by the focal point of the eye limitations, but think of it this way,
1led has 3 lights, for a deaf person, those 3 lights could be for natural disaster warnings, like tornado, earthquake, and water related (tsunami) correct me if im wrong, but we can predict earthquakes to a limited extent, tornados to a better, and tsunami (really any big wave) this could be use full to them.
look up implantable contacts, they suck.
the tech for a permant hud will be around the time that we can replace the eye in a blind person with something that is close to as good as our own eyes.
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all that aside, i cant put crap in my eyes, just so not comfortable with the idea of putting contacts in, takeing them out and so on... if i was more ok with it, i would so get them, just because i have oily as hell skin, and glasses get smudged in under 5 minuets.... anyway, i would prefer a glasses based hud over a contact based.
It takes a couple of weeks to get used to them, but once you're used to them, you'll never go back.
an exp and skill level implant, something that would make exercise seam meaningful.
i dont exercise because i need instant results, and making me tired is not a result, if i could see an exp bar and a skillup like thing, i could defiantly find time to exercise. but needing to exercise for a month or so, and needing to look at photos to even tell a difference, or getting a week by week scale measurement, i just cant bring myself to do a task that doesn't have instant results.
im going with my experiance of needing to put drops in my eyes for months, could never get use to that at all, i cant see contacts, where i have to keep my eyes open, and stick my finger in my eye, something i would be able to do on a daily, and multiple times a day basis. now if there was a decent week long or month long contact, i could do it, it would suck, but i could.
There're good week or month long contacts, but you still have to take the off every day. No matter what, your eyes need to rest, and keeping contacts on while you sleep isn't a good idea.
It's an abysmal experience at first, since your instincts try to block off any objects coming towards your eye. Once you overcome it, you won't have any problems and eyedrops will become easier, too (I definitely remember myself hating them when I was a kid). Your eyes will also become more resistant to irritation, but you have to remember to keep them humid at all times - AC can be a real b!tch (that's why contacts are not recommended during a flight, for example), so have some tear-like eye drops with you at all times.
Sure, it seems like a big hassle, but in fact it's not so much and the benefits far outweigh the effort taken to achieve them. You can wear sunglasses, nobody makes stupid remarks about you in school if you're a kid, you can swim and see properly and you don't ever have to wipe your glasses again
Of course, the market will be first flooded with bull$h!t apps for playing Angry Birds on walls and so on, but there will be serious and useful applications, too, and the people who'll use them will gain a distinct advantage over those who don't. Imagine walking around with direct link to... say, Wikipedia or any other knowledge source... and having it displayed on voice command? No need to look anything up anymore, you will be a dozen times faster with direct on-eye display.
I don't like the idea of eye implants - what if the better version comes out, do you need another surgery to upgrade? No, lenses are much better and it's nice to get used to them in advance
Just look at this:
Just seeing all this circuitry in the lens makes me want to use it. I like technological augmentations. Whoever said human body is perfect is f***ing stupid...
/end futuristic rant
Sure, but as I said, these contacts will bring benefit to those who'll be smart enough to take advantage of it. Hip or not, they'll improve things.
not sure how old you are, im 24, and got glasses in 5th grade, by that point no one cared beyond looking at them a bit the first day. in all honesty, im looking at lasic over contacts at this point, but im just waiting on the first one that guarantees 20/20 minimum, i don't have much need for glasses at this point, so i know it would get close to if not 20/20, but i want the one that guarantees it.
on a side note to your future rant thing. i think that implants would be the way to go, id get at least one if they were as good as human sight, using the optic nerve to go to the brain, and all you would need to do to upgrade would probably be pop the eye out... im probably thinking of a different implant than you.