Augmented Reality (AR) may not have been getting as much attention as Virtual Reality (VR), but safe to say, the medium is still very much around. Recently, a company by the name of Mojo Vision was has done the seemingly impossible and created a pair of contact lenses embedded with AR.
Known as Mojo Lenses, these contact lenses contain microdisplays with 14000 pixels-per-inch, wireless radios, images sensors, and motion sensors. All within the space of a product no bigger than a paper clip. According to IEEE Spectrum, the first generation of Mojo Lenses are also powered wirelessly, while the next generation will have batteries of some kind built into it.
Specifically, the Mojo Lenses are accompanied by a small external pack that, apart from its primary purpose of supplying power, sends information to the lenses. Mojo Vision calls the wireless relay technology Invisible Computing. As to how the device works, Mojo Lenses reportedly highlights shapes and objects in the real-world in bright green. Notifiying the wearer to their proximity of said things.
At the time of writing, the Mojo Lenses have been designated as a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Breakthrough Device and as such, clinical studies of the device are already underway. Further, Mojo Vision has also entered into a partnership with the Vista Centre for the Blind and Visually Impaired to develop new applications to the contact lenses.
It isn’t just the FDA that has given its unconditional backing to the AR contact lenses. The company has already roped in more than US$105 million (~RM426 million) in investments from some major technology companies, including LG and Google.
(Source: Mojo Vision via IEE Spectrum)
