INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Companies keep trying to make glassholes happen
After the smartphone and the wrist, the face is the next local battlefield for computational space, if decades of science fiction movies
was.Contact lenses have been mentioned in that same conversation for some time, as well, but technical limitations have placed the bar much
higher than a heads-up display standard pair of spectacles
California-based Mojo Vision has been working on the breakthrough for a number of years now, and has a lofty sum to show for it, with $108
million in funding, including a $58 million Series B closed back in March.The technology is compelling, certainly
in-eye augmented reality contact lens.Rather, two separate demos essentially involved holding a lens or device close to my eye in order to
get a feel for what an eventual product would look like
First, most of the work is still being done off-device at the moment, while Mojo works to perfect a system that can exist within the
confines of a contact while only needing to be charged once in a 25-hour cycle
Second, the issue of trying on a pair of contacts during a brief CES meeting.I will say that I was impressed by the heads-up display
In the most basic demo, monochrome text resembling a digital clock is overlaid on images
Here, miles per hour are shown over videos of people running
The system tracks eye movements, so you can focus on a tab to expand it for more information
You can easily envision how the addition of a broader color palette could give rise to some fairly complex AR imagery.Mojo is using CES to
announce its intentions to start life as a medical device
In fact, the FDA awarded the startup a Breakthrough Device Designation, meaning the technology will get special review priority from the
Before selling itself as an AR-for-everyone device, the company is smartly going after visual impairments
Working with the FDA should go a ways toward helping fast-track the technology into optometrist offices.The idea is to have them prescribed
in a similar fashion as contact lenses, while added features like night vision will both aid people with visual impairments and potentially
make those with better vision essentially bionic
The lenses will have a small radio on-board to communicate with a device that hangs around the neck and relays information to and from a
I asked whether the plan was to eventually phase out the neck device, to which the company answered that, no, the plan was to phase out the
Fair play.I also asked whether the company was working with a neurologist in addition to its existing medical staff
brain.Did I mention that you can still see the display when your eyes are closed
Talk about a (pardon my French) mind fuck
There will surely be ways to silence or disable these things, but as someone who regularly falls asleep with his smartphone in-hand, I admit
And then it will need medical approval
out, I have some doubts on that front.Stay tuned on all of the above
