In the Terminator movies, the audience was treated to a
sight of a robot's eye view of the world with data over laid with normal
vision. (I thought that was Arnold's normal vision. sub.ed.)
Of course one has to wonder what a view was for. After
all Arnold Schwarzenegger would have not needed a visual display of his
commands, but apparently the appeal of mixing data and vision as sparked
boffins to come up with an idea that is similar. A contact lens with simple built-in electronics is close
to being built.
Boffin Babak A. Parviz has been testing one on himself
and his students. While he admits that they don't give him the vision of an
eagle or the benefit of running subtitles on our surroundings yet. But he has
built a lens with one LED, which we’ve powered wirelessly with RF.
While conventional contact lenses are polymers formed in
specific shapes to correct faulty vision. To turn such a lens into a functional
system, we integrate control circuits, communication circuits, and miniature
antennas into the lens using custom-built optoelectronic components. Eventually such components will have hundreds of LEDs,
which will form images in front of the eye, such as words, charts, and
photographs.
The hardware is semitransparent so that wearers can
navigate their surroundings without crashing into them or becoming
disoriented. The plan is to have a separate, portable device will
relay displayable information to the lens’s control circuit, which will
operate
the optoelectronics in the lens. One of the biggest problems is having
a power source.
Batteries are hard to miniaturize to this extent, require recharging,
and if a
lithium ions battery explodes in your eye it might smart a bit.
Parviz is currently trying to work out a method of solar
power, which is good if you don't ever shut your eyes or spend too much time
indoors.
More here.