Researchers put circuits on contact lenses, freak out rabbits
By Donald Melanson 
posted January 17th 2008 3:49PM
posted January 17th 2008 3:49PM
We've seen plenty of newfangled contact lenses in the past, but it looks like a team of researchers at the University of Washington may have outdone them all, with their latest creation promising not only heads-up displays, but "superhuman vision." That's apparently possible thanks to a combination of lights and circuits, which they've managed to cram onto lens no larger than your average contact -- though it doesn't even do so much as light up in its current state (that's promises "soon"). Naturally, the researchers have tested the lenses on rabbits instead of themselves, which they say have shown "no adverse effects" after wearing the lenses for upwards of 20 minutes, although we'll just have to wait and see if they feel the same way after the researchers flip the switch on 'em.
[Via Futurismic]
[Via Futurismic]
I need an X-ray vision. Make it happen!
Enjoy your eye-tumors. :)
It's not an eye tum-AH!
They more or less have this on glasses but you all know what those look like. Maybe if they had it on the frameless glasses Morpheus wears in the Matrix I would consider it.
Some kid is going to figure out how to hack the lenses and see everything you see one day. I can't wait ...
Hmm, it would make catching the bad guys a lot easier...
Reminds me of that episode of Ghost in the Shell where a serial killer was hacking into his victims and forcing them to watch him skin them from his point of view.
Would make porn/sex a lot more interesting too...
Ghost in the Shell FTW!
Porn FTW!
"superhuman vision?" awesome... I'm looking forward to the x-ray version.
here's the killer app: Augmented Reality Quake http://wearables.unisa.edu.au/projects/ARQuake/www/
or replace your entire field of view for some very immersive VR!
I, for one welcome our new Lagomorpha... awww hell, I just can't say it.
Wait, what? What was the purpose of this? What have they proved? Almost nothing. They've shown they can embed some metal traces on a plastic disc that is somewhat curved. You want props from me? This is what you show: a way to have a part of the lens transparent at one instant, and then have a pixel (either lit, or just colored, like an LCD) in the next instant. Something useful. Also, have a way to power the thing, i.e. a peripheral sector of the lens that is photovoltaic to power the device. Come on, people, I can't just get a box and label it "transmogrifier" and go round up VC funding. The concept is cool, but I'd wait until they've actually shown something that is useful and novel.
I'm pretty sure "something useful" is the eventual goal of this research. I doubt they've packed up the lab and ended their research at this milestone. Give them time, sheesh.
You're right, good point. I guess they were probably just interviewed in the process of their research. Probably someone outside the research team anxious for a story about their organization.
That would be interesting. Let's say you have the government mandate that you must wear these contacts (or have them implanted in your eyes) and then allow them to have the video feeds wirelessly. You're looking for someone, just call up all the "eyes" that are within two or three city blocks of where you want to see. Record all video feeds, save for later use in criminal trials.
You call it "interesting". I would call that "horrifying beyond imagination".
And if the power fell into the wrong hands...?
Lol what if everything that can see required the contacts *imagines bugs with lenses spying on enemy*
Not to mention, a stranger watching you through your bathroom mirror when s/he's bored at work.
I never though I would say this, but I much rather have a GPS tracker implanted in me and everyone else instead of your idea david.
That's some freaky shit.
Big Brother is inside of me.
check out some R. J. Pineiro novels (Cyberterrorism, Havoc) to see some very cool ideas for near-future nano-lense technology.
Sweet! I've been waiting so long for something like this.
Where do I sign up?
My mom always said, "Eat carrots. They're good for your eyes." I said, "How do you know?" She said, "You don't see any rabbits wearing glasses, do you?"
The answer was no.
But she never asked about rabbits wearing contacts.
I'm afraid your mom was wrong to begin with. Carrots do nothing to help your vision. If you're really that interested to counter my argument, look on Google yourself. I'm too lazy to send you a source right now.
Shyeah... everyone already knew that.
You know it's a great joke when you have to explain it!
carrots help you see the dark.
see explosm.
Unfortunately the contacts would require to be a standalone hardware interface. The power supply would work off induction, and any high powered processing would occur from a separate system. The only thing I see the contacts being capable of is receiving power, and receiving/sending some type of signal. Send what it sees, have a separate unit to offload the processing and the interpretation of what's being seen, relay some message back to the contacts that's displayed by the display unit. Unfortunately with this wireless based system, it would become a hackers paradise. Being able to see what you see, or even worse, sending false information to your contacts making you see what they want you to see. But the possibilities as well would be endless for applications.
The engineers plan to add wireless communication to and from the
lens, along with built-on solar cells and the capability to use
radio-frequency power. The prototype doesn’t light up, but a
version with a basic display showing a few pixels could be
operational soon.
There are many possible uses for virtual displays. Drivers or pilots
could see a vehicle’s speed projected onto the windshield.
Video-game companies could use the contact lenses to completely
immerse players in a virtual world without restricting their range of
motion. And for communications, people on the go could surf the
Internet on a midair virtual display screen that only they would be
able to see.
http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/article.asp?articleID=39094
Can you imagine the ad:
"Wear the lens at home - Project an image of Jessica Alba onto your wife, make life good again..."
This is gonna do wonders for my porn addiction.
There is only one problem with the visual overlay stuff:
To draw something on the eye surface that is visible is not that easy.
Since the image plane is between the world and the eye, and it is completely out of focus, the overlay will be blurred on the retina. The blurring will be so heavy that it will be completely invisible for the brain.
(Just like the dirt on the lens of a digital camera. That is not visible either on the image because the image is totally blurred.)
The right place to put the overlay plane is between the focal point and the retina, or right on the retina surface.
(Similarly to the previous example, the dirt on the CCD of the digital camera is well visible, although a bit blurred because of the 3D volume of the dirt particle. That's why the CCD has to be kept clean.)
One question remains: how do we put the overlay inside the eyeball...
After 21 minutes the rabbits developed the ability to jump towards people's throats at 500 yards. The rabbits escaped and are believe to be hiding in a cave somewhere in Europe.
The only weapon effective against the killer rabbits? The holy hand grenade...
monty ftw
All i want is to be able to drag and drop a file from a computer into my personal inventory, only to be seen by me as I'm out and about. And, if I so desire, I can make my personal files visible to other wearers of augmented vision. That will make my day.
Not to mention that if everyone has augmented vision, then we can all have avatars either on or walking next to us all. You think the ear dongles make people look crazy? Wait until people are conversing with virtual entities with artificial intelligence.
Is that any better than artificial entities conversing with virtual intelligence?
Well.. I'd imagine in that situation it'd be a modem sound. If a robot and AI software could talk to each other in English, it'd probably be as entertaining as watching 3CPO & R2D2.
Good for hypnotists and dating etc..
"Wow! your eyes just twinkle!"
Only for you....
Vernor Vinge FTW.
Maybe the army is funding it to entice gamers to become soldiers so that they can see a HUD like when playing doom
Haha, it's rather amusing
Eoin Colfer thought of this first :D
Human eyes can't see things which don't move. To compensate the eye continually wobbles to and fro. anything on the eye ball cannot be seen by the eye because it wobbles with the eye and thus appears stationary.
Human eyes can't see things which don't move. To compensate the eye continually wobbles to and fro. anything on the eye ball cannot be seen by the eye because it wobbles with the eye and thus appears stationary.
I have a hard enough time getting contact lenses in my big eyes. How the HELL do you put contact lenses in a rabbit's eyes?!?!
DonatoM3 was on the right track, but he didn't take it far enough. The wires will be too close to see AND the pixels will also be too close to see. You might be able to see a flashing pixel, but there is no way you can focus on an image on your lens. I think this idea is pretty much useless.
I won't discuss the animal testing issue (since it doesn't seem that invasive to mister bunny here)but i'm thrilled at the idea of having a micro screen in the eye that would like tell me the time...weather (the current news heck) etc. And the fact that it might even be possible to surf the internet (two way wireless communication) is a bonus. Also a video game enthusiast. Hope the gaming industries will keep ...an eye...on this invention.