ZCZC
BFF-33
US-IT-LIFESTYLE-HEALTH-MOJO
‘Invisible computing’ startup unveils smart contact lens
WASHINGTON, Jan 16, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A startup focused on “invisible
computing” Thursday unveiled a smart contact lens which delivers an augmented
reality display in a user’s field of vision.
The Mojo Vision contact lens offers a display with information and
notifications, and allows the user to interact by focusing on certain points.
The rigid contact lens, which the company has been developing in stealth
mode for some 10 years, may also be used to help people with visual
impairments by using enhanced image overlays, and has obtained US approval
for testing it as a medical device.
“Mojo has a vision for invisible computing where you have the information
you want when you want it and are not bombarded or distracted by data when
you don’t,” said chief executive Drew Perkins.
In a demonstration to an AFP reporter, company executives showed how the
contact lens could enable users to see a virtual teleprompter, navigation
instructions or other interactions that appear floating in the field of
vision by projecting a micro-LED display to the retina.
A user, wearing two lenses which may be fitted with a correction
prescription, could “click” by concentrating on an icon — to launch a music
player, for example — and turn off by looking away.
Mojo said it had no timetable for a commercial launch. But it has received
approval from the US Food and Drug Administration as a “breakthrough” device
to test the contact lens to help people with visual impairments such as
macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa.
“These are people who are underserved by technology today,” said Steve
Sinclair, senior vice president of the startup based in Saratoga, California.
The company said the contact lens is designed to provide overlays that
augment sight for people with “low vision” and may assist in mobility,
reading and other functions.
Mojo has raised $100 million and has executives with experience at Google,
Apple and other Silicon Valley firms, with opticians and ophthalmologists
also working on the project.
The contact lens aims to enable people to move away from physical devices
and interact more naturally with technology. It also could have business
applications, allowing workers or specialists access to real-time information
in their field of vision without a bulky headset.
A challenge has been to pack into the lens the complex circuitry, image
sensor, wireless radio and battery needed for the wearable device.
Executives said the current version would transmit and receive information
wirelessly through a portable relay box which could be clipped to a belt, but
they hope to link directly to smartphones in the future.
The company will be testing its vision-enhancing applications with the
Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Palo Alto, California.
BSS/AFP/BZC/2035HRS