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Startup to Create World’s First Smart Contact Lens

Credit: Mojo Vision/The Verge

An advanced display in the blink of an eye.

Some tech companies have been tinkering with smart displays in their off time, with one of the first examples that comes to mind being the Google Glass. The intent is to change the way you see the world with the addition of information, readouts, and all that other cool sci-fi stuff. Smart glasses haven’t really found mainstream appeal yet, though. It’s anyone’s guess as to why, but one possible reason could be their occasionally unwieldy nature. So, what does someone who wears glasses do when glasses are annoying? Wear contacts, of course.

Mojo Vision, a technology startup company, recently revealed their prototype for the world’s first smart contact lens. The first and foremost goal of this device is to do what a normal contact does, but ten times better. The prototype can enhance and sharpen any images that pass through it, which could give someone with impaired sight vision that equals or even exceeds those with perfect 20/20. The contact would also be able to zoom in on far away sights, and could even feature a night vision mode. Mojo Vision is hoping that, in addition to these base features, the lens would be able to do the things people typically expect of smart glasses, like display maps and information.

The lens is still in its very early stages. A portable power bank and data manager needs to be carried somewhere on the wearer’s person, which Mojo Vision says they probably won’t be able to phase out. Some people who have tried the prototype also claimed to find the constant vision adjustments to be exhausting and headache-inducing, though Mojo Vision assures that such sensations would be temporary.

Mojo Vision is still deep in development on the lens, with no timeline for a commercially viable product. They do have funding secured, however, and demoed the lens at CES, so they have every intent of selling this thing. Whether it’ll succeed where Google Glass failed remains to be seen (pun unintended).

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