British inventor Josh Silver began working on eyeglasses that can be tuned by the wearer in 1985. His goal is to bring better vision to a billion people worldwide who cannot afford, or don't have access to, an optometrist.
Silver's goal is to distribute a billion pairs of his adaptive glasses to poor people by 2020 (the pun in the year is intended, I'm sure). Already, 30,000 pairs have been given out in 15 countries.
Silver hopes to get the cost of manufacturing each pair down to a dollar each. Link -Thanks, Cuimhne!
(image credit: Michael Lewis)
Silver has devised a pair of glasses which rely on the principle that the fatter a lens the more powerful it becomes. Inside the device's tough plastic lenses are two clear circular sacs filled with fluid, each of which is connected to a small syringe attached to either arm of the spectacles.
The wearer adjusts a dial on the syringe to add or reduce amount of fluid in the membrane, thus changing the power of the lens. When the wearer is happy with the strength of each lens the membrane is sealed by twisting a small screw, and the syringes removed. The principle is so simple, the team has discovered, that with very little guidance people are perfectly capable of creating glasses to their own prescription.
Silver's goal is to distribute a billion pairs of his adaptive glasses to poor people by 2020 (the pun in the year is intended, I'm sure). Already, 30,000 pairs have been given out in 15 countries.
"The reaction is universal," says Major Kevin White, formerly of the US military's humanitarian programme, who organised the distribution of thousands of pairs around the world after discovering Silver's glasses on Google. "People put them on, and smile. They all say, 'Look, I can read those tiny little letters.'"
Silver hopes to get the cost of manufacturing each pair down to a dollar each. Link -Thanks, Cuimhne!
(image credit: Michael Lewis)
--TwoDragons
Oh and it would be good for the world's poor for an affordable set of specs too.
Here is a link to The Lions' website. Once you go there, you will understand why I posted it.
http://www.lionsclubs.org/EN/content/about_index.shtml
Sadly, 80 percent of the world's blind were needlessly without sight. Through SightFirst, Lions have prevented blindness by supporting cataract surgeries, helping to build or expand eye hospitals and clinics, distributing sight-saving medication and training eye care professionals
While all those services are a boon to those who are not fortunate enough to have them, people still need corrective lenses. Cataracts are a large part of the problem, especialy in areas where malnurishment is an issue, but surgery & medicine can only do so much.
Cost to make: $1.00
Cost when they go mainstream: $100.00+
In otherwords, why wouldn't this catch on in areas not poverty stricken? My eyes change all the time and going to get new perscriptions is costly and inconvienient. I'd be just fine with having contact lenses that are always up-to-date perscription wise, and having a pair of eyeglasses such as these for when I'm at home on the computer.
i'm going to the optromologist tomorrow
i hate going there
just kidding : great idea.