Farewell to Bifocals?!?

Gah! I'm so excited by this idea, I can barely form words!

As part of my January promise to myself to deep clean my house, I finally took a minute to watch one of the videos featured in the July 2017 issue of Photonics & Imaging Technology, a special edition of NASA Tech Briefs. The blurb in the magazine was so compelling, the magazine had been patiently folded back for months, waiting for me to check in and follow up on this little gem.

It's such an obvious idea, I suspect it's been done before, but here's a video, and you don't have to dig it out of your "look at this later" pile:

techbriefs.com/tv/smartglasses

First, the glasses are tuned to the individual's prescription.

Next, as each eye fixates on a given object, sensors on the rim of the glasses essentially measure the distance from the fovea to the object, and then - this is the magic part - the liquid-filled lens either becomes more convex or concave in response, specific to the individual's prescription, allowing the user to maintain the same ease, posture, and demeanor as a person with a single-lens prescription!!

Seriously, this is pretty much the same idea as an autofocus lens (for all of you old enough to remember what a huge innovation that was)! No more cranking the head to read fine print! No more neck kinks! Imagine the possibilities!

I also wonder if an extension of this idea could also branch into adaptive lens coloration, to help people with sensitivities to different predominant wavelengths of light, from the yellow-green in fluorescents, to the now-popular blue of LCDs and smartphones, or the general brightness of daylight? Imagine the possibilities!

#EyeTracking #VisualTherapy #EyeMovement #MedicalDevices #HumanFactors #ergonomics #Bifocals #Photonics