Functional contact lenses are a new milestone in augmented realities

Thirty years ago, a group of human test subjects volunteered to try something for the first time – they climbed into an exoskeleton, pressed their face to a vision system, and manually interacted with a mixed reality of real and virtual objects. They were trying to test a. Prototype of augmented reality technologyAir Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), which allowed users to interact with virtual objects merged into the real world.

The system filled half a room and cost nearly $1 million to build, but it worked – demonstrating for the first time that AR technology can increase human performanceReal-world tasks.

A new milestone was reached last week AR technologyIt was a significant achievement that highlights the achievements of the field over the past few decades. I’m talking about the first authentic test of an Contact lens for augmented reality. It happened in a research lab at Mojo Vision in Saratoga, California, and it wasn’t a crude bench test of oversized hardware with wires dangling. This was a true test of AR contact lenses being worn on the eyes of a real person. 

Amazing power in tiny living spaces

This milestone is important to me, as an AR techniect from the very beginning. It’s not easy to create an AR lens.

When I tell people that, they tend to focus on the display technology. The ability to put a high-resolution display on a tiny transparent lens is a daunting prospect, but it’s still the least difficult piece of the puzzle. The trickiest part about the tiny lens is its ability to communicate wirelessly with external devices without any physical tether. This is very challenging, and yet it’s what Mojo VisionThey achieved this in their most recent demonstration.

The display technology is also impressive.  According to the company, Mojo Lens features a 14,000 pixel per-inch microLED display and a pixel pitch measuring 1.8 microns.  For context, the iPhone 13 has a Super Retina XDR LCD Display. 460 pixels per inch. Mojo Lens displays hardware have about 30 times as many pixels than an iPhone.

These lenses also include an ARMProcessor with a 5GHz radio transmitter. Also includes an accelerometer and magnetometer to track the eye movements.

All this happens right in front your eye. 

And that’s still not the hardest part. For me, power is the biggest hurdle to AR contact lens success. According to Mojo, the Mojo Lens uses medical-grade microbatteries. It’s not clear what the current battery life is for today’s prototype, but according to Mojo, their product objective is Power managementThat allows you to wear your clothes all day.

AR is the future

I’m sure there’s a long road ahead to get from today’s prototypes to widespread deployment of low-cost contacts that bring Immersive AR capabilitiesPeople all over the world can see this, but I strongly believe that this is the future of the industry. In fact, I predict that AR eyewear – first as glasses and then as contacts – will Replace the mobile phoneOur primary interface to digital content in 10 years. 

I also believe that augmented reality will make society a lot more humane. It will turn digital assets we can access selectively into seamless features in our physical environment. 

A few years ago I wrote a futurist narrative entitled “Metaverse 2030” that attempts to accurately portray what life will be like when AR contact lenses become commonplace. According to the article, consumers will be fitted for new contacts in the next decade if they subscribe to a mobile service. This will likely happen in the next 10 years. Only time will tell.  

But one thing is certain today – over the last 30 years, the technologies to enable immersive AR have been invented at an impressive pace, taking the field from a room full of Air Force hardware was very expensive in 1992To tiny transparent lenses that will fit on your eyes’ surface in 2022. Many significant innovations have occurred along the way. Microsoft HoloLensAnd Magic LeapUse headset Pokémon GoAnd Snap AR.

With all the amazing engineering going on in labs around world, AR is certain to replace the mobile phone as our platform of choice within the next 10 year. 

Louis Rosenberg, Ph.D. He is an entrepreneur and researcher who has been working in the fields of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality for many years. He has been granted over 300 patents to his workIn these fields. He is currently the CEO and chief scientist at Unanimous AI. He started his career at NASA and Air Force Research Laboratory, developing AR technologies for the first time (the Virtual Fixtures project). Rosenberg was a professor at California State University after he received his Ph.D.