This time it is the animation turning to reality! Yes its true, the engineers at University of Washington have been successful in creating a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights by installing manufacturing techniques at microscopic scales. They have been designed to create virtual cross hairs in order to aid visually impaired people. They can be even used for holographic driving control panels and the way to surf the web on the go. These are just some of the usage of this lens as scientist argue that there are many applications that people will realize only after using these lenses.
Babab Parviz, assistant professor of electrical engineering at UW claims that through these lenses one can see what the display is generating superimposed on the world outside. The professor is also of the opine that this small initiative is a big leap towards a promising goal. The main authors and co authors of this research are Harvey Ho, a former graduate student of Parviz's now working at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif and Ehsan Saeedi and Samuel Kim. This lens was presented at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' international conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems held on January 18th 2009.
The lens can have wide range of applications
The engineers who were involved in the research are of the view that the uses of these lenses can be very wide in scope. They will not only act instrumental for drivers and pilots to see a vehicles speed projected onto the windshield but the gaming industry too will benefit from it as these lenses will enable the user to transpire virtually in the animated world.
This lens were tested on rabbits for 20 minutes and they showed no inauspicious effect. Thanks to the prototype device that contains an electric circuit as well as red light-emitting diodes for a display, though it does not yet light up. The gadget is so human friendly that one will not be able to realize that he or she is wearing it. Second of all, its easy enough to pop in and out as well.
The engineers confessed that building a gadget like this is not an easy task as unlike the rest of the body our eyes are very sensitive. The methodology of manufacturing this lens involved inorganic materials, scorching temperatures and toxic chemicals. To manufacture them, the engineers built the circuits from layers of metal only a few nanometers thick, about one thousandth the width of a human hair, and constructed light-emitting diodes that are one third of a millimeter across. They sprinkled grayish powder of electric components on a flexible plastic sheet and used the technique called self assembly to create these tiny magical marvels.
This lens is designed in a way not to affect a persons vision and can also be used as a corrective lens. The professor also pinned hope on the possibility of a wireless communication to and from the lens. According to Parviz, "A full-fledged display won't be available for a while, but a version that has a basic display with just a few pixels could be operational "fairly quickly."
Babab Parviz, assistant professor of electrical engineering at UW claims that through these lenses one can see what the display is generating superimposed on the world outside. The professor is also of the opine that this small initiative is a big leap towards a promising goal. The main authors and co authors of this research are Harvey Ho, a former graduate student of Parviz's now working at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif and Ehsan Saeedi and Samuel Kim. This lens was presented at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' international conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems held on January 18th 2009.
The lens can have wide range of applications
The engineers who were involved in the research are of the view that the uses of these lenses can be very wide in scope. They will not only act instrumental for drivers and pilots to see a vehicles speed projected onto the windshield but the gaming industry too will benefit from it as these lenses will enable the user to transpire virtually in the animated world.
This lens were tested on rabbits for 20 minutes and they showed no inauspicious effect. Thanks to the prototype device that contains an electric circuit as well as red light-emitting diodes for a display, though it does not yet light up. The gadget is so human friendly that one will not be able to realize that he or she is wearing it. Second of all, its easy enough to pop in and out as well.
The engineers confessed that building a gadget like this is not an easy task as unlike the rest of the body our eyes are very sensitive. The methodology of manufacturing this lens involved inorganic materials, scorching temperatures and toxic chemicals. To manufacture them, the engineers built the circuits from layers of metal only a few nanometers thick, about one thousandth the width of a human hair, and constructed light-emitting diodes that are one third of a millimeter across. They sprinkled grayish powder of electric components on a flexible plastic sheet and used the technique called self assembly to create these tiny magical marvels.
This lens is designed in a way not to affect a persons vision and can also be used as a corrective lens. The professor also pinned hope on the possibility of a wireless communication to and from the lens. According to Parviz, "A full-fledged display won't be available for a while, but a version that has a basic display with just a few pixels could be operational "fairly quickly."
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