6 ms·

LED mounted in a contact lens for possible VR/AR displays (2011)

36 points by mhb 5y ago

baxtr 5y ago
Note: this is from 2011 and should be added to the title
dncornholio 5y ago
The video is from one of my favourite channels, Applied Science. Big youtube tip!
helsinkiandrew 5y ago
The title image reminds me too much of Clockwork Orange to watch the full video - and I realize this is a proof of concept, but in hacker news nit picking style wouldn't the need for a feeder induction coil next to the eye mean you might as well wear glasses and have the LEDs mounted there? You could probably put some of those 4.5mm inductive LEDs under your eyelid and the induction loop in a hat band?
- twoodfin 5y ago
  As a regular contact lens wearer who switches to glasses in the evening, there’s a qualitative difference in the perceptual transparency as well as the quality of the visual adjustment. You get used to glasses, but you’ll never forget they’re there. With day-wear contacts you have to be careful not to fall asleep with them on. All else being equal, I’d expect the immersive advantage of contact displays to be substantial.
- anonomousename 5y ago
  Funny you say that - in another video, the creator talked about how this was one of the projects that got (or at least contributed to) his job at Google, working on Google Glass. Not too far off glasses mounted LEDs
dezmou 5y ago
Can someone explain to me how the eyes could possibly focus something that close ?
- serg_chernata 5y ago
  Technically, the video covers this at the very end. You'd need a lens between the eye and led to focus the light.
moron4hire 5y ago
This is really old (11 years!). There is a company called Mojo Vision (https://www.mojo.vision/ https://www.mojo.vision/) that is relatively far along with creating a full product out of this: https://venturebeat.com/2022/03/30/mojo-vision-unveils-latest-augmented-reality-contact-lens-prototype/ https://venturebeat.com/2022/03/30/mojo-vision-unveils-lates...
Fargoan 5y ago
I remember reading about this in Popular Science in 2008. Still waiting.
- melling 5y ago
  Commercial supersonic flight, bullet trains coming to America, nuclear power, solar power, Skylab, Space Shuttle, traveling to Mars. Growing up with Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica,… The future sure looked exciting in the 1970’s. Consider Minority Report is now 20 years old. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_Report_(film) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_Report_(film) In 1947 humans broke the sound barrier, and 22 years later we were on the moon. We took a wrong turn somewhere.
  - sethammons 5y ago
    The future is here, now. Everything about smart phones is sci-fi to the 70s. Just missing tricorder heath diagnosis on the device. We didn't get the hoverboards we expected, but Back to the Future style video conferencing from your home? Check
    - melling 5y ago
      I see, we got that so we are satisfied. I think I’m starting to understand where we went wrong. We simply got complacent.
pnw 5y ago
Contact lens based displays are a technological dead end IMHO, due to the infection risk. The majority of contact lenses used by younger generations are now disposable, so the adoption curve for a display lens is going to require something cheap enough to be thrown out after every use. The alternative is inconvenient lens disinfection processes or an eye infection. I don’t see any reasonable way to overcome any of these obstacles in the near term. It’s not like contact lenses themselves are a new technology. Virtual retinal displays mounted in glasses are far more interesting, and decent prototypes have already been built cf Microvision.
- wollsmoth 5y ago
  yeah I think I'd rather keep using my daily contacts and put on some non-corrective AR glasses.
- bigmealbigmeal 5y ago
  These are some pretty damning issues, but I don’t think it’s fair to conclude that it makes the technology a dead end. For example, implantable contact lenses are commonly used to treat myopia. The lens is implanted in the eye over the long term, no infection. There’s no reason why this isn’t feasible for contact lens screens. One could posit that people won’t want to implant a contact lens screen in their eye, and perhaps they won’t, but it’s up for debate and perhaps underestimated how readily many people dive head first into scary new things (think, say, how many used LSD in the 60s). Even if the lenses weren’t implanted, it’s still feasible for disposable contact lens screens to be cost-effective. You can buy all types of screens right now for less than a dollar. It’s not impossible to make cheap disposable screens for contact lenses. Again, there are difficult problems to solve here, but I think calling it a technological dead end underestimates just how novel and clever humans can be to make things work.
- moron4hire 5y ago
  What?! Disinfection of the lenses is "inconvenient"? You do it while you sleep. You just put them in a capsule and squirt some fluid in. It's not at all hard.

36 points by mhb 5y ago

baxtr 5y ago

Note: this is from 2011 and should be added to the title

dncornholio 5y ago

The video is from one of my favourite channels, Applied Science. Big youtube tip!

helsinkiandrew 5y ago

The title image reminds me too much of Clockwork Orange to watch the full video - and I realize this is a proof of concept, but in hacker news nit picking style wouldn't the need for a feeder induction coil next to the eye mean you might as well wear glasses and have the LEDs mounted there? You could probably put some of those 4.5mm inductive LEDs under your eyelid and the induction loop in a hat band?

twoodfin 5y ago
As a regular contact lens wearer who switches to glasses in the evening, there’s a qualitative difference in the perceptual transparency as well as the quality of the visual adjustment. You get used to glasses, but you’ll never forget they’re there. With day-wear contacts you have to be careful not to fall asleep with them on. All else being equal, I’d expect the immersive advantage of contact displays to be substantial.
anonomousename 5y ago
Funny you say that - in another video, the creator talked about how this was one of the projects that got (or at least contributed to) his job at Google, working on Google Glass. Not too far off glasses mounted LEDs

dezmou 5y ago

Can someone explain to me how the eyes could possibly focus something that close ?

serg_chernata 5y ago
Technically, the video covers this at the very end. You'd need a lens between the eye and led to focus the light.

moron4hire 5y ago

This is really old (11 years!). There is a company called Mojo Vision (https://www.mojo.vision/ https://www.mojo.vision/) that is relatively far along with creating a full product out of this: https://venturebeat.com/2022/03/30/mojo-vision-unveils-latest-augmented-reality-contact-lens-prototype/ https://venturebeat.com/2022/03/30/mojo-vision-unveils-lates...

Fargoan 5y ago

I remember reading about this in Popular Science in 2008. Still waiting.

melling 5y ago
Commercial supersonic flight, bullet trains coming to America, nuclear power, solar power, Skylab, Space Shuttle, traveling to Mars. Growing up with Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica,… The future sure looked exciting in the 1970’s. Consider Minority Report is now 20 years old. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_Report_(film) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_Report_(film) In 1947 humans broke the sound barrier, and 22 years later we were on the moon. We took a wrong turn somewhere.
- sethammons 5y ago
  The future is here, now. Everything about smart phones is sci-fi to the 70s. Just missing tricorder heath diagnosis on the device. We didn't get the hoverboards we expected, but Back to the Future style video conferencing from your home? Check
  - melling 5y ago
    I see, we got that so we are satisfied. I think I’m starting to understand where we went wrong. We simply got complacent.

pnw 5y ago

Contact lens based displays are a technological dead end IMHO, due to the infection risk. The majority of contact lenses used by younger generations are now disposable, so the adoption curve for a display lens is going to require something cheap enough to be thrown out after every use. The alternative is inconvenient lens disinfection processes or an eye infection. I don’t see any reasonable way to overcome any of these obstacles in the near term. It’s not like contact lenses themselves are a new technology. Virtual retinal displays mounted in glasses are far more interesting, and decent prototypes have already been built cf Microvision.

wollsmoth 5y ago
yeah I think I'd rather keep using my daily contacts and put on some non-corrective AR glasses.
bigmealbigmeal 5y ago
These are some pretty damning issues, but I don’t think it’s fair to conclude that it makes the technology a dead end. For example, implantable contact lenses are commonly used to treat myopia. The lens is implanted in the eye over the long term, no infection. There’s no reason why this isn’t feasible for contact lens screens. One could posit that people won’t want to implant a contact lens screen in their eye, and perhaps they won’t, but it’s up for debate and perhaps underestimated how readily many people dive head first into scary new things (think, say, how many used LSD in the 60s). Even if the lenses weren’t implanted, it’s still feasible for disposable contact lens screens to be cost-effective. You can buy all types of screens right now for less than a dollar. It’s not impossible to make cheap disposable screens for contact lenses. Again, there are difficult problems to solve here, but I think calling it a technological dead end underestimates just how novel and clever humans can be to make things work.
moron4hire 5y ago
What?! Disinfection of the lenses is "inconvenient"? You do it while you sleep. You just put them in a capsule and squirt some fluid in. It's not at all hard.