LED displays in a contact lens

Scientists at University of Washington have embedded 8x8 LEDs into contact lenses, using micron sized circuits. The goal is to turn contacts into high resolution displays and allow us to see the world through an overlay of information - think "Terminator vision".

This development, when combined with other mobile gadgets, may change the way we think of both the real and the digital world - merging the two into what people call "augmented reality". Imagine traveling to another country and having a subtitle of the foreign language right under your eyes; or, gaining a birds-eye view of your surroundings when you are out hiking or directions while driving. What else would you do with that kind of ability?

(That is a rabbit eye)












There are still technical problems. The eye can't focus on light sources close to it; micro-lenses have to be placed between the eye and the LED so it doesn't look blurry. Another technique is to scan low-power lasers into the retina (like in Snow Crash) - lasers have better resolution, but they can't be made micro-scale yet. The LEDs get power wirelessly; they only require microwatts. They may even be powered by the ubiquitous wifi signal.

What people call augmented reality is actually a new kind of interface, one that allows us to pay attention to both our surroundings and the information. We'll no longer be forced to stare at glowing rectangles. The information becomes part of the environment. You can see a good example of it in the viral video What's In the Box.

The published paper from IEEE: Augmented Reality in a Contact Lens