LCD contact lenses are here

Smallest personal computer to date fits in one’s eye

BY MELISSA SUE SORRELLS GALLEY

Computers have been getting increasingly smaller since they were first introduced. First, they took up whole rooms, then whole desks, then our laps. Today, they’re in our palms and our pockets. But why stop there?

Researchers at the Centre of Microsystems Technology at Ghent University have developed a spherical curved LCD display that can be embedded in contact lenses and may just be the smallest personal computer yet.

The current contact lens display prototype.

While previous LED-based versions of similar technologies couldn’t support more than a few pixels, the team at Ghent has figured out how to include enough display graphics to allow the whole curved surface of the lens to be used.

“This is not science fiction,” said Jelle De Smet, the chief researcher on the project. “This will never replace the cinema screen for films. But for specific applications it may be interesting to show images such as road directions or to project text messages from our smartphones straight to our eye.”

As the first step toward fully pixilated contact lens displays, the team believes that commercial applications for the lenses will be available within five years. In addition to acting as an on-board personal display screen, the lenses could be used as adaptive sunglasses, or for cosmetic or medical purposes.

Below is a video of the lens in action:

Currently, the device can only display rudimentary patterns, similar to an electronic pocket calculator. The first prototype presented contains a patterned dollar sign — a joking reference to the eyes of cartoon characters when they think of a money-making scheme.

Going forward, researchers say that the power source for the display is a major consideration. The current prototype uses so little power that a solar cell might actually be able to do the job. If their predictions are correct, we may skip right over Google Glass and straight into digital contact lenses. ■

Story via: ugent.be