A Terminator-style contact-lens display
November 23, 2011
Single-pixel wireless contact lens display (credit: University of Washington/Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering)
Bringing us a step closer to a Terminator-style augmented-reality display, University of Washington engineers have constructed an experimental contact lens with a single-pixel embedded light-emitting diode (LED) and tested it in a rabbit.
The LED lights up when it receives energy from a remote radio frequency transmission, picked up by an antenna around the edge and collected via a silicon power harvesting and radio integrated circuit.
But the ultimate future concept would be to display multipixel data — from a cell phone, for example, no eyeglasses required. Here’s how the engineers say it will work:
Future concept for contact-lens information display (Credit: University of Washington/Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering)
A light emitting diode (LED) chip (1) with 100 pixels projects virtual images (6, b). Power-harvesting/control circuitry (2) uses wireless power from an external source, picked up by an antenna (3), an connects (4) to the LED. Emitted light is reimaged using planar Fresnel lenses (c).
“In the future, contact lens systems may receive data from external platforms (e.g., mobile phones) and provide
real-time notification of important events,” the engineers say. “As contact lens-based biosensors advance, they may alert the wearer of physiological anomalies, such as irregular glucose or lactate levels. With more colors and increased resolution, contact lenses may display text, be used with gaming devices, or offer cues from navigation systems.
“Although high resolution, full-color, stand-alone contact lens displays might be many years away, the technological demonstrations to date depict a clear path containing a number of useful intermediate devices that can be feasibly produced in the near to medium future.”
Ref.: A R Lingley et al., A single-pixel wireless contact lens display, Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 2011 [doi:10.1088/0960-1317/21/12/125014] (free access until Dec. 21)
Comments (14)
by paty cadena
well chris your blog is really nice but i dont understan it at all..!!! well i think that the technology, in the future everything could be differnet beacause the world are improving more and more…………..!! i hope to undertand more about this types of new inventions ..!! well continue in the investigation you will be the best .. bye
by Daniel Gonzalez
I think that this new innovative technology is going to help many people in the future. With each day the giant steps forward and I hope soon tecnologuia this day come true. Daniel Gonzalez
by Carina
The technology always surprising, since every year get something new and better … LED is one of these inventions as good … Carina
by Ceci Cueva
all invents are good for the people, the problem is when the people want to do all the things with the technology and forget of the simple things.
by gabriel diaz
its very very interesting… I really like to have one, the possibilities of use are reallly big. I hope to have one before die jajaja
by J. Barrett Haynes
I am Barrett Haynes. I patented the first Corne-Borne Image Display (do a search for this) in the late ’80s. I was the first to predict this medium back in 1980 & I have piles of documentaion of my due dilagence in my efforts to get a patent. It was only a fiber-optic parlor trick, it was a pipe-dream-machine, literally as you can see (if you read the patent filing with the illustrations) but, my filing attempts in the early ’80s were denied by the Patent Office because I tried to do what Washington Stae U. is doing now. It is very enlightening: There is more to this than meets then eye, it is as is beauty, all in the eyes of the beholder, does this make me the wizard of eyes ?, so let the scales fall from your eyes, the eyes have it. My phone is 858 530 0901 & my email is pearlywhites1@sbcglobal.net . I am available to talk of my insights as well as its spiritual meaning for our future, as the passage says- out of the mouths of babes… this will be the technology by which mothers will caress & speak to their preborn children who have these on their eyes– so as you can SEE, it fulfills prophesy. Yes I am the first to predict this & many more insights that I have documented. To the Ladies, Barrett Haynes — P.S, keep your eyes peeled for more INSIGHTS from yours truely. INVISION INC.
by Roberto Ayala
Each invention must be to improve the good life of humanity and always keeping a balance with nature, I think it’s great these advances to facilitate our life but must be done considering their widespread
by andres
LED tecnology help us because it consume only a little power than other light tecnologies.
by Sarita
This is amazing to know about how the new tecnology is going developing, ’cause nobody now about this new tendency. keep on doing that and researching more for comunicated us.
by hugo
the new advance in some devices isn’t expected, but in the led tecnology the application you can find in diferents digital devices.
by Christian Gonzalez
Great!!! when they come out i probably buy ones if i can afford it. I wish that scientists improve more pixels to show on it like the movie but i hope that this help people on hospitals and help to doctors in fighting some diseases like diabetes, heart problems etc….
Christian G.
by Vstoriguard
I’ve forgotten who said it, but someone once pointed out that as prophets we humans have two regular sorts of failures. We predict too many changes in the short term and too few in the long.
In other words, the bad news is that the transhuman/posthuman community may have underestimated the time required to reach our goal. The good news is that once we reach it, the results will be more awe-inspiring than we ever dreamed.
victor-storiguard.blogspot.com
by Giulio Prisco
So are we all. But as you say the path is here, and we are walking it. We should try to walk faster, but of course there are always unexpected obstacles.
The authors of this article say that the end product (wireless contact lenses that can also function as a full resolution display for augmented reality apps) will take some more years of development. But when it is developed, I am sure there will be a huge commercial market if the price is right. I would prefer normal glasses easy to pot on and take out though, not contacts.
by melajara
This is yet another area where Kurzweil’s predictions are lagging.
Granted, the path is here, as predicted but not the pace.
Such devices are always proof of concept but not commercial, even less mainstream. In the mean time, I’m growing older at an UNABATED PACE :-(