Advanced Computers’ technicians have serviced and repaired a lot of devices during our time, but we’ve never repaired anything like this!
In something straight out of a sci-fi novel, researchers at Ghent University Centre of Microsystems Technology, in Belgium, have developed the technology that allows text messages from mobile phones to be displayed on contact lenses, with the definite potential to perform other tasks.
The device consists of a curved LCD display embedded within the contact lens which enables it to display projected images via wireless technology.
Unlike previous LCD contact lens prototypes, the new method developed by the Ghent University researchers allows the whole lens to be utilised, rather than small portions with only a few pixels.
The LCD contact lens is similar to Google’s Project Glass, where a computer is embedded within a pair of glasses, except this time the computer is applied directly to your eyeball.
Ideas for the application of this technology will depend greatly on how much information can be packed onto such a small surface, and whether it can be interpreted by the eye.
For example, one application suggested is for the LCD lens to act as sunglasses, by automatically darkening when exposed to sunlight. Another allows roadmaps or text messages to be displayed direct from your smartphone to the eye. Researchers are also looking at the ability to limit the amount of light that reaches the eye, which is especially useful for patients who have experienced eye-trauma. Cosmetically, it would also be possible for users to change the colour of their eyes with a touch of a button (presumably on a smartphone, as there are no buttons on the lenses themselves).
What hasn’t been looked at (pun intended) at this stage is how to ensure distractions don’t occur when performing high-risk activities, such as driving. People can’t be trusted to turn off their LCD lenses every time they drive, as looking around now many still make phone calls despite it being illegal.
For now the LCD contact lenses remain under development, with the more advanced applications being tested in (potentially) a few years.