Contact lenses integrated virtual graphics

Contact lenses integrated LED screen, can display a lot of graphical information, is gradually stepping from fiction movies to real life thanks to the work of scientists.

Capturing the increasingly compact image of mobile imaging devices, researcher Babak Parviz at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA, came up with the idea of integrating these devices with a contact lense.

To do this, Parviz sought to embed electronic circuits in substrates such as paper or plastic. Electro-luminescence circuits and circuits have been encapsulated in biocompatible materials and then placed into cracks etched into the lens.

The shape of the lens.

As with other electronic devices, this special contact lens must use a power source to operate. This power is about 330 mW (micro watt). Instead of using batteries, the lens uses an antenna that receives electromagnetic waves from a nearby transmitter.

The team tested the lens by attaching it to a rabbit's eye. Experimental results show that it does not cause any harmful effects on the eye. The electronic mechanism of this lens also does not affect the eyesight of the user.

The lens was tested on rabbit eyes.

According to Parviz, future versions of the lens will receive electromagnetic waves and display information from the user's mobile phone, with seemingly endless possibilities of application in fiction films. For example, wearing eyeglasses can analyze the size of a building at eye level, or the three-lobe height of an opposite supermodel.

Mark Billinghurst, director of the Human Interface Technology Laboratory in Christchurch, New Zealand, was impressed with the work. "A lens that enables real-world visualization of virtual graphics can provide a compelling experience for the reality," Billinghurst said.

The University of Washington team will present their electronic contact lenses at BioCas 2009, held in Beijing in November 2009.