Remember those bionic eyes some of our favorite sci-fi characters had to zoom in on far-away things, have useful facts pop into their field of view, or create virtual crosshairs?
Well those could become an attainable reality for everyone soon enough.
Engineers at the University of Washington have for the first time used manufacturing techniques at microscopic scales to combine a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights.
Looking through a completed lens, you would see what the display is generating superimposed on the world outside; opening many doors for useful applications of these contact lenses.
Installing or removing the bionic eye would be as easy as popping a contact lens in or out; and even thought the current prototype contact lens does not correct the wearer’s vision, the technique could be used on a corrective lens.
Future improvements will add wireless communication to and from the lens. The researchers hope to power the whole system using a combination of radio-frequency power and solar cells placed on the lens.
I personally think this is a very cool invention which could be used in several areas, for serious and professional purposes as well as for leisure purposes too.
I can’t wait to see this rolled out and the different uses it will be applied in. I’d certainly want one, that’s for sure.
[Source: Science Daily
