A Silicon Valley technology start-up is in the process of developing augmented reality (AR) contact lenses to help users obtain real-time information from the Internet. This new development is a significant step in the wearable technologies sector and one that can minimise the gap between humans and machines. The AR lenses developed by Mojo Vision comes with a digital display that can be controlled by eye movements.
Mojo Vision, a start-up company established in 2015, has accumulated funding upwards of $100 till now. It showcased the new AR technology at the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Visitors at the event got a glimpse into a prototype of the lenses and were able to test a simulation of its user interface.
The AR lenses look quite similar to conventional ones available today but have many technological additions, including a microprocessor, micro-LED screen, wireless communication, and several sensors. Users operate the features with their eye movements, by glancing at a home screen to make selections. At CES, the demonstration was restricted to functions like displaying weather conditions or showcasing travel times. Mojo has expressed its intentions to develop other use cases in the future, such as conversation subtitling in foreign languages, and stats for runners.
According to Steve Sinclair, Head of Product and Marketing at Mojo Vision, the lenses have the capability of augmenting people’s memory to make them smarter for short durations. Users can also utilise the lenses for displaying transcripts of speeches before their eyes. Sinclair stressed that the idea behind the development is to let people access all types of Internet services, such as using Alexa for voice commands.
The Mojo AR lenses follow several clunkier predecessors which did not make any considerable impact on the market. One instance of such developments is Google Glass, which was quite popular leading up to its 2012 release, but failed to capture the market due to pricing and privacy-related concerns. Moreover, the smart glasses industry has never really achieved much commercial success. Drew Perkins, Chief Executive of Mojo, explained that glasses are bound to many limitations and implementing technology is quite challenging.
Compared to conventional smart glasses, the contact lenses by Mojo, which are not perfect instances of augmented reality where object superimposition is a key facet, function as a digital display that offers simplistic and private operations. Following calibration, the home screen with a ring of functions can be brought forth with a sideways glance. Users can select from available options by looking towards them. Staring at a function performs an action similar to a double click, whilst looking sideways again rejects the information.
The lenses come equipped with an image sensor that points in the outward direction. Mojo has remarked that, in the future, the sensor could be used for facial recognition. This could lead to it grabbing information about someone who is in front of the user, and enhance conversations. The Mojo AR lenses can be connected to smart devices via a technology quite similar to Bluetooth. Consumers are looking forward to the release of these high-tech contact lenses.
