When you drive your car your dashboard instruments display the speed, amount of fuel left, and distance traveled. You can use Google Maps on your smart phone to find restaurants, post offices, or other important landmarks all around you. Why can’t this sort of information be given to you all the time, streaming directly into your field of vision on a contact lens? That’s the question University of Washington Prof. Babak A. Parviz asks in his recent letter to IEEE Spectrum. Parviz and his team have been developing miniature circuits and simple LED displays and integrating these elements onto a contact lens-like polymer. They’ve tested them on rabbits who can wear the devices without harm. As Parviz points out, introducing Augmented Reality onto a contact lens is just a matter of time and effort.

Augmented Reality applications are starting to crop up everywhere, from table top games, to toy store displays. AR allows digital images and information to be blended with streaming video in real time. Using a computer screen or TV, the digital world and the real world overlap before your eyes. Pavik wants that statement to be literal: the overlap should be right before your eyes. As electronic elements become smaller and able to function at ultralow power, there should be little reason why electronics can’t function directly on your body. AR contact lenses could also record information too. Biosensors on your eye would be able to monitor your health and then display that data to you through the AR interface. These devices would not only grant you increased knowledge, they could lead to bionic eyesight. High powered cameras could beam their recorded images directly onto your eyes through the lens, letting you see further, sharper, better.
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