Smart Contact Lenses

Imagine a contact lens that could project the time, weather, your heart rate, text messages and other information right into your eye. Now imagine that same contact lens could sense objects, access data like a smart watch AND allow you to see in the dark. That’s the kind of capability being built into a new augmented reality (AR) contact lens geared toward becoming an FDA-approved assistive device for people with visual impairments such as macular degeneration.

At the heart of it all is a monochrome micro-LED that looks like a small green dot to the naked eye. But when placed on the eye, it will project readable text directly onto the cornea. Power is currently supplied wirelessly, but the future plan is to include a tiny battery and a 5GHz radio transmitter on the lens as well. Other features will include the ability to magnify and/or translate text, highlight objects and adjust contrast. Eventually they will also be available as prescription lenses.

The device, known as Mojo Lens, is still years away from being released to consumers. The first in-eye demos are not expected until later this year. But the company has received a Breakthrough Device designation from the Food and Drug Administration as an assistive technology for debilitating conditions, which will help fast-track the approval process.