We’ve all seen those futuristic movies where a cyborg uses bionic vision to rapidly search through internet databases, hands-free and on the spot, or use heat vision to stealthily locate the enemy. Although this may not seem to be very realistic in our world today, it actually may not be too far off, and possibly even available to the average consumer in the very near future.
Recently, engineers have been working on contact lenses that have similar capabilities to those of Google Glass, though obviously without the clunky, visible hardware. Not only would users be able to browse the internet and use mobile phone apps right before their eyes, literally, but they would also experience enhanced visual perception. Another significant advantage these contact lenses would bring about is a more facilitated and innovative way to monitor health. Contact lenses themselves sit on the surface of your eyes, hence the name, and only remain there because of the presence of bodily fluids. The lenses could pick up vital health information from these fluids and send it directly to doctors. Babak A. Parviz, a writer for IEEE Spectrum, explains this in detail in his article on the contact lenses and the progress he and his students have made in developing and testing prototypes.
Photos: University of Washington
Another more recent IEEE Spectrum article by Evan Ackerman discusses an emerging gadget similar to Google Glass, but with better resolution, a larger screen area, and more features. This piece of eye wear couples with special contact lenses that “hack” the eyes and enable more realistic augmentations. The augmented reality we only see in movies will soon be more of a reality to us than ever.
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