Augmented Reality in a Contact Lens

http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/augmented-reality-in-a-contact-lens

by tysont • 13 years ago

84 47 13 years ago

spectrum.ieee.org

mtgx• 13 years ago

That's just Google Glass 10.0. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves. We don't even have Glass-level glasses available in the mainstream market yet.

toki52• 13 years ago

I'm looking forward to Glass, but man, I wouldn't touch smart contact lenses with a 10-foot pole.

Maybe -- maybe if they couldn't connect to the Internet. I know I'm playing paranoid devil's advocate here, but if they have any sort of connectivity, I'm going to be terrified (maybe irrationally so) of the prospect of someone figuring out how to intercept them and blind me.

robertk2• 13 years ago

Uhh what if no physical configuration of the LEDs is sufficient for blinding? This does not seem like an issue if the hardware is incapable by design.

Besides, such a product could arguably be more useful than a car, and certainly more safe; you've driven, haven't you? I think you're being a little naive and hasty. I could see a similar comment 20 years ago about cell phones and "brain damage."

lifeformed• 13 years ago

Maybe someone could still maliciously make it display self-illuminated shock porn that stays in view even if you close your eyes.

lloeki• 13 years ago

May I recommend reading Permanence by Karl Schroeder, where, among other interesting bits, the Rights Economy extends to access control via completely removing things (such as doors) that should not be seen from view.

toki52• 13 years ago

That sounds interesting as hell. I'll look, thanks!

aaronbrethorst• 13 years ago

[2009]

iharris2• 13 years ago

Forget about AR contact lenses, I'd be stoked if they made a lens that is safe and comfortable to wear and doesn't have to be thrown out every 2-4 weeks. :)

sigil2• 13 years ago

Curious to know what you've tried. I've been using B&L Soflens Torics [1] for about 10 years now, no complaints. They're supposed to last for a few weeks but I've found I can usually wear them with no discomfort or blurriness for 6 months at a time.

(For the record, I have terrible eyesight. Different astigmatisms in both eyes and approaching -10 diopters.)

[1] http://www.bausch.com/en/Our-Products/Contact-Lenses/Contact...

iharris2• 13 years ago

I've been using Acuvue Oasys (IIRC) for a while now. I'm on the 4-week disposables but my optometrist is getting worried about increased blood vessel growth in my cornea. I think my eyes may just be particularly sensitive - this is happening despite me wearing lenses for a max of 12 hours a day and not exceeding the recommended 4 weeks of wear per lens.

cdjk• 13 years ago

What's wrong with having to throw them out every 2-4 weeks? :-)

I used to wear contacts every day, and even wore the daily disposables for a while. Those were actually really convenient.

oskarth• 13 years ago

One step closer to Sight (a short futuristic film from last year).

http://vimeo.com/46304267

vowelless• 13 years ago

How apt that the article is written in 2009 by Babak Parviz, who founded the Google Glass project.

https://plus.google.com/100149980664588993669/about

dlokshin• 13 years ago

I wear contact lenses. I hate having to put contact lenses on every morning. The idea of having perfectly good eyeballs, but putting contact lenses on anyway seems very depressing to me.

TwiztidK2• 13 years ago

I tried wearing contact lenses for a little bit and I found them to be horribly uncomfortable and they would fall out if I blinked too often. For people like me who do not get along well with contacts, I really hope that they don't become necessary anytime in the future.

robertk2• 13 years ago

You probably haven't found the right brand for you. I wear mine 14 hours a day and barely ever notice them. Experiment, you can usually ask for free samples.

jostmey• 13 years ago

The application of augmented reality using contact lenses and other types of head up displays was explored in the wonderful science fiction novel "Rainbows End", which was written by none other than "Vernor Vinge".

sown• 13 years ago

I remember one of the characters from the story, Robert Gu's friend, clutching a laptop -- a hopeless relic in that era -- saying, "I want to see what is really there, not what they want me to see."

I get the impression that would be me in that future, worried about what was real or not, or how many false memories I'd be recalling because of something that was shown to me. I'm probably just being paranoid, but so was this character and if I recall correctly, it worked out for him in the end.

disbelief• 13 years ago

Among probably a couple dozen other sci-fi books. But Rainbows End was a good one nonetheless.

bitsai• 13 years ago

"Rainbows End" was indeed wonderful. Another great exploration of AR in speculative fiction (and my personal favorite) is Charles Stross' "Halting State".

VikingCoder• 13 years ago

I'll jump in with my favorite sci-fi book, "Daemon" and "Freedom(TM)" by Daniel Suarez.

It features something roughly like Google Glass, plus Reddit Karma acting like BitCoins and like XP in World of Warcraft.

PencilPushinSOB• 13 years ago

Never managed to finish that book. It also appears extensively in Peter F Hamilton's Commenwealth Saga.

Thoroughly recommend getting hold of the third episode of the British SciFi show Black Mirror.

r0s• 13 years ago

This again? As usual, the problem is casually swept away deep in the text:

> By now you’re probably wondering how a person wearing one of our contact lenses would be able to focus on an image generated on the surface of the eye.

Yes, that is a bit of a problem. I'd say it's the main problem. Quite a bit of hand-waving here, just like the many other contact-screen speculations.

twistedpair• 13 years ago

Got a minor in optical engineering minor back in the day. I think it is theoretically possible to create a waveform with those LED's that would converge to an image at a distance. It's a similar problem to the recent deep field cameras on the market today that look at the waveform across the thousands of lenslets and reconstruct the image at multiple virtual focal planes.

That said, those calculations are wicked complicated and take computational power, so hopefully some genius PhD comes up with an algorithm to generate those wavelet images in O(n).

XorNot• 13 years ago

An array of lasers which was columinated at the point of emission could do it (a well of 500nm cavities, with an LED module at the bottom could do it.

On the other hand: tensor displays are basically already there for what you say (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r6lY8S4A6E).

It's a pretty solvable problem, we're just lacking the miniaturization (and power source) to make it practical.

ChuckMcM• 13 years ago

Future product idea, ever-cool eye drops. Keep the CPU in your contacts from over heating with this fast evaporating fluid.

nnnnni• 13 years ago

Torchwood!

nsxwolf• 13 years ago

This is a "display on your eye", not Augmented Reality. Nothing is mentioned on solving the real problems of rendering perspective correct imagery layered over the real world, adjusting for head movement, saccades, microsaccades, gait, movement of vehicles, etc.

This is what Google Glass isn't even trying to do.

jrockway• 13 years ago

Modern airliners have HUDs that display "perspective-correct imagery layered over the real world". It's useful for landing in the fog.

thwest• 13 years ago

Airliners have almost none of the problems the OP mentioned. The displays are several feet away from the movement of the eye. Movement of the sensors is slow and smooth. The target distance is near infinity in optical focus. The overlayed target is a generally a giant flat rectangle. These are some delicious simplifying assumptions.

grannyg00se• 13 years ago

Fancy. All I want for now is a pair of glasses similar to sunglasses - but with HDMI in at 1080p projecting a 30in screen at 3ft.

derleth• 13 years ago

Am I the only one here who is amazingly creeped out by the very idea of putting anything directly on their own eyeball?

alatkins• 13 years ago

As a wearer of contact lenses I'm surprised how often people express this sentiment :-)

It takes some getting used to (I seem to remember, but I've been wearing them for 15 years), but it's not that bad, honest!

navs• 13 years ago

While I have given it a try and had terrible panic attacks. Maybe if I kept at it, I'd get used to it but crossing that barrier was too much for me.

TheCoelacanth2• 13 years ago

With the exception of the first thirty seconds, or so, after putting them in, I consider them far more comfortable than glasses.

Shadow_Death• 13 years ago

My question is how would the human eye focus on something that close to it?

sfaruque• 13 years ago

This reminds me of a Futurama episode: http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/EyePhone

b1daly• 13 years ago

I've had this nagging feeling that Google Glass type devices are going to gain traction far faster than anyone expects. Personally I have no inclination towards this type of connectivity. I'm fairly amazed by my regular eyesight, and already have a problem processing the information it provides.

My fear is that as ubiquitious, wearable computing takes over, it will increase the pressure to be connected all the time, as it further lay a meta network over the physical world. Of course culture will start to develop quickly around this new space, and those that don't want to wear such a device will be hopelessly left out of vital activities.

As a sliver of hope on the opposite end, maybe those who choose to stick with natural senses can improve those through mindfullness type methods. This might provide balancing benefits.

I don't understand the impulse towards this type of interface. I don't feel that great when I'm online, I have a feeling of being in alternate space, a mental space, and being kind of detached from "real" reality.

How about a drug that would improve standard perception and cognition at low cost and minimal side effects? That seems like technology that I could get behind!

Augmented Reality in a Contact Lens

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