Contact Lenses for Superhuman Vision

Engineers at the University of Washington are developing techniques to combine a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights. The lenses incorporate circuits made from layers of metal only a few nanometers thick and light-emitting diodes one third of a millimeter across. The possible uses for such technology range from drivers and pilots reading meters while watching out the window, to video games and internet usage.

“People may find all sorts of applications for it that we have not thought about. Our goal is to demonstrate the basic technology and make sure it works and that it’s safe,” said [Babak] Parviz, who heads a multi-disciplinary UW group that is developing electronics for contact lenses.

The lenses were tested on rabbits, who showed no adverse effect. Link -via J-Walk Blog

(image credit: University of Washington)