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Augmented Reality In a Contact Lens: It's the Real Deal (ieee.org) 70

Posted by BeauHD from the future-tech dept.
Tekla Perry writes: Startup Mojo Vision announced a microdisplay mid-2019, with not a lot of talk about applications. Turns out, they had one very specific application in mind -- an AR contact lens. Last week the company let selected media have a look at working prototypes, powered wirelessly, though plans for the next version include a battery on board. The demos included edge detection and enhancement (intended for people with low vision) in a darkened room and text annotations. The lenses are entering clinical trials (company executives have been testing them for some time already). Steve Sinclair, senior vice president of product and marketing, says the first application will likely be for people with low vision -- providing real-time edge detection and dropping crisp lines around objects. Other applications include translating languages in real time, tagging faces, and providing emotional cues.

"People can't tell you are wearing it, so we want the interaction to be subtle, done using just your eyes," Sinclair said. He also noted the experience is different from wearing glasses. "When you close your eyes, you still see the content displayed," he says. Mojo Vision is calling the technology Invisible Computing.
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Augmented Reality In a Contact Lens: It's the Real Deal More

Augmented Reality In a Contact Lens: It's the Real Deal

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  • Does that mean... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I can watch p0rn and no one will know???

  • Fix that first. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Brain-Fu ( 1274756 ) on Thursday January 16, 2020 @09:13PM (#59628214) Homepage Journal

    I want it to go dark when I close my eyes. Those brief moments of respite from the deluge of visual data are necessary for my emotional well-being.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by thedarb ( 181754 )

      This!

    • I want it to go dark when I close my eyes. Those brief moments of respite from the deluge of visual data are necessary for my emotional well-being.

      I don't imagine the contact lenses emit any light. You'll still have full access to your reprieve.

      • Re:Fix that first. (Score:5, Informative)

        by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Thursday January 16, 2020 @10:06PM (#59628322) Journal

        They do emit light. They are "microLED".

        microLED displays can consume as little as 10 percent of the power of LCDs and are 5 to 10 times as bright as OLEDs.

        From an article that was linked to in TFA.
        https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech... [ieee.org]

      • ...I don't imagine the contact lenses emit any light. You'll still have full access to your reprieve.

        From TFA:

        “When you close your eyes, you still see the content displayed,”

        • It's gonna really suck when these inevitably get hacked and you can't escape the GOATSE by closing your eyes anymore.
          And then there's the matter of retinal burn-in from prolonged high exposure. Those broken eyes will have to GO. ouch.

      • I know we don't read TFA, but the summary now too?

        ""People can't tell you are wearing it, so we want the interaction to be subtle, done using just your eyes," Sinclair said. He also noted the experience is different from wearing glasses. "When you close your eyes, you still see the content displayed," he says. "

      • "... When you close your eyes, you still see the content displayed ...."

        Ah, the advertising possibilities are enormous!

        Maybe they could track what you pay attention to, in order to present targeted ads, "to serve you better."

        And if you close your eyes, they'll show you ads for eye drops.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kaenneth ( 82978 )

      resume viewing

      Resume Viewing

      RESUME VIEWING

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by ewhac ( 5844 )

      I want it to go dark when I close my eyes. Those brief moments of respite from the deluge of visual data are necessary for my emotional well-being.

      "It looks like you're trying to sleep. How would you like Clippy to help with that...?"

    • I want it to go dark when I close my eyes. Those brief moments of respite from the deluge of visual data are necessary for my emotional well-being.

      Shouldn't be that big a deal....most people take their contacts out at night before they go to sleep.

      That's a pretty normal part of the routine, take them out nightly for overnight cleaning, etc...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by aitikin ( 909209 )

        I want it to go dark when I close my eyes. Those brief moments of respite from the deluge of visual data are necessary for my emotional well-being.

        Shouldn't be that big a deal....most people take their contacts out at night before they go to sleep.

        That's a pretty normal part of the routine, take them out nightly for overnight cleaning, etc...

        I believe what GP was meaning was that, throughout the course of the day, there are times where closing one's eyes and just sitting there are important (thus "brief moments of respite").

        • believe what GP was meaning was that, throughout the course of the day, there are times where closing one's eyes and just sitting there are important (thus "brief moments of respite").

          OH....never occurred to me...the only time I close my eyes for any length of time at all is when I"m sleeping.

          People just sit around awake with their eyes closed? Why?

    • You are not supposed to sleep with them in, and if you just mean closing your eyes in general, there is probably an app for that, and if not I will write one for you.
      Or you could *gasp* not stick the things in your eye in the first place.
      Problem solved, news at eleven.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Would make a tremendous torture device.
      Imaging the bad guys projecting goatSE
      into your eyes, and not being able to avoid looking at it.

  • Drop the facial tagging / recognition. (Score:3)

    by thedarb ( 181754 ) on Thursday January 16, 2020 @09:25PM (#59628234)

    We have enough surveillance. You put facial recognition into contact lenses and privacy will be completely gone forever. In fact, ban facial recognition from all wearables, if not everywhere.

    • this recognizing shall not be tolerated!!!
    • It's a display with sensors, it has rudimentary edge detection not facial recognition or tagging. Quit spreading FUD and looking for excuses to punch people in the face.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by thedarb ( 181754 )

        Did you not read the poster's summary? "Steve Sinclair, senior vice president of product and marketing, says the first application will likely be for people with low vision -- providing real-time edge detection and dropping crisp lines around objects. Other applications include translating languages in real time, tagging faces, and providing emotional cues."

    • How does annotating something the other person can already see impact privacy? (You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means)

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Kejiro ( 2803123 )
        That's now. Facial recognition implies that it has a camera, and in such a small device it will most likely need to send that data to an external server for processing. It is also a very high probability that that server will keep the data for further analysis and training. It is also possible that government agencies and other interested parties requires access to that data. There might be a rudimentary processing in the device so that it would only send images containing people, but what would stop it fro
      • Seeing people is normal. Taking pictures of everyone you see is creepy. Taking pictures of everyone you see, tagged with their names and addresses, is a violation of their privacy.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AK Marc ( 707885 )
      I want facial recognition in the AR. The, have the lenses display the name of the person above the face. I'll never have to forget a name again.
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • I've actually gone months without using anybody's name and not have it be noticed. what their name is is not near as important as whether or not they know you're talking to them, or other people know who you're talking about. A short description of their primary function in a context or most distinguishing physical feature is sufficient for the majority of interactions. Names are not that important.

          But people REALLY like it when you remember and can call them by name.

          It not only helps build repoire with c

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by MobyDisk ( 75490 )

        IMHO that's fine so long as you are manually tagging the faces, and the recognition is local, rather than some cloud service that has a picture of every person on earth and a feed of images. The problem isn't facial recognition, the problem is the cloud tracking.

        • It's true that the core privacy issue is with who has access to the data rather than with its mere existence. However, mere existence is an ancillary privacy issue in the sense that data which doesn't exist can't be leaked (intentionally or otherwise).

        • Better make sure there’s no cloud uplink if you are tagging those people yourself, else you will be “outing” them when you tag them and their name & mugshot are sent to the mothership, to be used in any and all image recognition service for all time.

          I still very much want this. When I first heard about AR, back when an AR set consisted of a bulky shoulder mounted camera, an unwieldy headset, and a computer carried in a backpack, this was the very first application that came to mind.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by guruevi ( 827432 )

          If you're worried about that, you shouldn't pass any mall, advertising sign, fast food restaurant or even drive on the highway. Facial and other recognition system are making their way into everything that shows an ad.

  • The holy grail of advertising (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ebcdic ( 39948 ) on Thursday January 16, 2020 @09:28PM (#59628236)
    Ads you can't avoid even by closing your eyes: "When you close your eyes, you still see the content displayed".

  • That's an instant dis-qualifier for me.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

  • FTA: "When you close your eyes, you still see the content displayed" [says Steve Sinclair, senior vice president of product and marketing].

    How long will it be before it is used as a torture/reeducation device? No more need to clamp your eyes open like in A Clockwork Orange.

    • If prototypes exist, they are probably already being used for this purpose. And if not, they will be the instant they are in the hands of any government agency that has any capacity to operate outside of public scrutiny.

      Where means, motive, and opportunity align, the most evil eventuality is the safest assumption. Humans are like that.

      There is no point in banning or regulating this tech, that will have no effect. The ONLY means of keeping evil in check is public accountability. Absolutely nothing else w

    • Suggest you read "Other Days, Other Eyes" by Bob Shaw - written decades ago (I recall reading it in the seventies). It's a good read in itself, but there'es a vignette / short sub story describing exactly your concerns

  • I want to have to power it from an external device. I do not want a battery in my eye.

  • get punched, crash on your bike, get baseball in the face... battery explodes INSIDE YOUR SKULL.
    Goodbye eye. At least I got another one.

  • Wearing these hooked up to an AI that plays unbeatable poker or instantantly counts cards and advises on bet amounts or any other game of skill like go, chess or basically any game. Invisible hard to detect cheating.
  • the idea appears in the movie "The Thinning" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5... [imdb.com] For a clip showing this, see http://legacy-www.math.harvard... [harvard.edu]

  • Is it just me, or does that older guy's eyelids look pretty red and puffy?

  • Now I can be jump scared at any moment, and closing my eyes wont do a thing... cant wait for black hats to cause us actual heart attacks... or even better... demand payment or else...

  • When someone works out how to hack these... ?

    • You mean like the Ring, Alexa and Google devices have already had the ever loving shit hacked out of them? It is kind of funny though.

  • What about something useful instead? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gnasher719 ( 869701 ) on Friday January 17, 2020 @06:14AM (#59628854)
    What about making a varifocal lens that automatically detects the distance to what you're looking at, and the complete lens adapts so you can see a sharp image, no matter what you are looking at? Now _that's_ something I would buy. Not some stupid gimmick.

    • Multifocal contacts are a thing and have been (both soft and hard) for over 10 years.

      I would also point out that your eye , unless you're old enough to need multifocals in the first place, does that refocussing faster than a processing system could; not to mention that there's no way to determine the distance you want to focus on. You can only determine the Az-El angles.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Shotgun ( 30919 )

      The lenses would have to be really thick to get any physical zoom.
      Then the problem would be that you'd have the zoomed image superimposed on the real world, instead of having the real world annotated. That might get confusing.

  • I dont really get how it works, the lens has a display but no camera. So the user would need to wear a a camera on his/her head, that feed is transmitted to a device(phone) the feed is processed and then streamed to the lens. Also, how can they outline objects (as they state) when the camera might be facing a different object then the eye(s) is looking at. Also, the version with battery sounds like such a horrible idea!
  • Google patented this idea like a decade ago.
  • Probably the worse idea ever, for the general population. However, I'm sure it could have great application in industrial use...

  • This will obviously be able to record everything the user sees. If it is doing translation, will it also be able to hear? With improvements, it'll be able to play back full resolution video. At that point, the stories in Black Mirror where people were able to record their lives and play them back would have come to fruition.

    How many years were there between Star Trek's communicators and flip phones?
    Black Mirror started playing only a few years ago.

  • How can something in contact with the cornea project a focused image onto the retina? Apparently most of the contact lens is transparent; the display is just a tiny dot [cnet.com]. (Also see the picture in the article linked previously [ieee.org].) It must have some kind of lens system to focus the image onto the retina.

    "The lenses are entering clinical trials ...." I didn't find anything at Clinical Trials.gov [clinicaltrials.gov], but I didn't try very hard. "Mojo" didn't return any relevant results.

  • I just wanna SLEEEEEEP!

    The sheep... they won't stop coming... and counting

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