Augmented Contact Lens Prototype

I recently wrote about an augmented language translation system that could beam words directly into the user’s eye. NEC’s Tele Scouter hasn’t been released yet but the idea of a head mounted transmitter is already beginning to look so last week.

How about just wearing your augmented reality (AR) generator as a pair of contact lenses?

Back in January the University of Washington (UW) announced a project to create a contact lens based AR system. It seems they’ve succeeded – the working prototype is due to be shown later this month at BioCAS 2009.

The device consists of nanoscale electronics embedded in the plastic of the lens. Power is currently beamed remotely to the lens however UW hope in time to be able to “harvest” the energy of ambient radio waves, for example those generated by mobile phones.

The result is a system that can produce a virtual display or HUD that appears to float between 50cm to 1 metre away. As well as serious applications such as language translation and news tickers there’s also a massive potential for augmented reality gaming (ARG).

And, of course, “adult” entertainment.