 "Zoomable contact lenses could soon be a reality")
Anyone who may have read Artemis Fowl would have loved the idea of iris-cams; contact lenses which can zoom, record and transmit video. While the lenses have been in the realm of fiction till now, reality may soon be catching up, courtesy an experimental lens that allows wearers to zoom in on different points in their line of sight.
The research for the contact lens was funded by the US Defense Research Agency, DARPA, and was developed by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland. The contact lens was tested on a life-sized model of the human eye at the University of California in San Diego. A similar kind of research, which was also done by DARPA, has been picked up by the Pentagon, according to BBC.
The seemingly standard lenses are just over a millimetre thick and 8 millimetre in diameter, according to the report. The team was able to construct an unmagnified optical path in the centre of the lens, which was encircled by a ring of optics, that could magnify the wearers vision up to 2.8 times. The lenses will feature crystal shutters which can block either of the optical paths, essentially letting the wearer choose between regular and magnified vision at will.
Zoomable lenses could soon become a reality
Researchers were able to build the LCD shutter mechanism into a modified pair of Samsung 3D TV glasses, which were placed over the eyeball like a standard optical reading glass to achieve the effect. While the lens itself is still in development, the team seemed confident that the LCD technology can easily be built into contact lenses. The question that has been left unanswered so far is how a wearer can trigger the crystal shutters to switch between regular and magnification mode.
The contact lenses do have a few problems, though. While talking about this, the team said that “the magnified images were clearly visible in our tests, but the acuity fell short of the design specification.” The researcher team is clear that it can fix this issue, though, by using superior refractive optics and materials to address the diffraction-related issues.
And that is where the second problem may crop up. So far, the material used is an experimental hard lens, which is constructed from hard, clear plastic. The only way that the research team can improve the image generated is by developing a rigid but gas-permeable material that will let fresh air get to the eyeball, much the same way that modern soft contact lenses work.
While the technology is aimed at people suffering from age-related macular degeneration, which results in lose of vision in the central area of the retina, there could be privacy concerns, similar to issues that have been raised over the Google Glass.
The price tag of these contact lenses is the big question now. While there is definitely a need for a zoomable contact lens, there are other clinical treatments which can fix low vision. The contact lenses will have to be able to complete with those options. Be that as it may, the device is definitely worth thinking about, primarily because of its possible applications, both in the military and civilian spheres.