Mojo Vision, a new Silicon Valley startup has been working on smart contact lenses that gives the user night vision and also serves as a discreet and private interface for your digital presence by putting a screen against your eye. The company has been working on this product for the last five years or so and they have revealed initial prototypes and its tiny display technology which they assure will cover everything, whether it’s your urgent messages or your schedule that is displayed over the view around you.
The goal for these contact lenses is to essentially give your vision superpowers. Mojo Vision set out to develop lenses from which people with low vision can benefit from, as it would enhance the display of their view, sharpen details or zoom in for a clarity. But that seems to be very far into the future for now. Mojo lens consists of a tiny screen coupled with microelectronics so that it can completely fit all that is required for an augmented reality display into one contact lens.
A smart display along with eye tracking is challenging to fit into a contact lens. The company is currently using VR goggles for demos instead of contact lenses. The early forms of the product may just have the basic processor and display, and features such as eye tracking maybe included in future products.
The lenses have to be FDA approved unlike the North Focals or Google Glass; the other more recent wearable displays.
The initial version of contacts will mainly focus on people who are visually impaired. It won’t only be for people with myopia, it is giving you night vision as the lens improves your view of your surroundings. An effort is being made to make these available at optometrists and for it to be partially compensated by health insurance.
The aim is to make a battery that would last a whole day and recharge in a compact container. You would have to clean these as you would for your regular non-disposable contacts. The display size is 0.48mm and it guarantees a density of 14,000+ ppi pixels. It also assures a private display that would lay over graphics on top of your regular vision.
We still have to wait for a couple of years before we can actually get these. Now that Mojo Lens has major investment backing, it can get to work on making the final product and going through the entire approval process.
It’s likely that these will be expensive and so insurers will have to be convinced too. Following this, people who don’t require contacts for medical purposes will get to climb aboard the AR train.
All Images: © Mojo Vision
h/t: Slash gear