Stephen Shankland has been a reporter for CNET since 1998, covering browsers, microprocessors, digital photography, quantum computing, supercomputers, drone delivery, and other new technologies.He has a soft spot for standard groups and I/O interfaces.His first big news was about radioactive cat shit.
Sci-fi visions are taking center stage.On Tuesday, startup Mojo Vision detailed its progress on tiny AR displays embedded in contact lenses, providing a layer of digital information overlaid on what is seen in the real world.
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At the heart of Mojo Lens is a hexagonal display less than half a millimeter wide, with each green pixel only a quarter the width of a red blood cell.A “femtoprojector” — a tiny magnification system — optically expands and projects the image onto the central area of the retina.
The lens is loaded with electronics, including a camera that captures the outside world.Computer chips process images, control displays, and communicate wirelessly with external devices such as cell phones.A motion tracker that compensates for your eye movements.The device is powered by a battery that charges wirelessly at night, just like a smartwatch.
“We’re almost done. It’s very, very close,” said Chief Technology Officer Mike Wiemer, detailing the design at the Hot Chips processor conference.The prototype has passed toxicology testing, and Mojo expects to have a fully functional prototype this year.
Mojo’s plan is to move beyond bulky headgear like Microsoft’s HoloLens, which is already starting to incorporate AR.If successful, Mojo Lens could help people with vision problems, for example by outlining letters in text or making curb edges more visible.The product can also help athletes see how far they’ve cycled or the rate of their heartbeat without checking other equipment.
AR, short for Augmented Reality, is a powerful technology that can infuse computational intelligence into glasses, smartphones and other devices.The technology adds a layer of information to real-world imagery, such as an excavator operator showing where cables are buried.So far, however, AR has been mostly limited to entertainment, such as showing movie characters on a phone screen view of the real world.
The Mojo Lens design for AR contact lenses includes a ring of electronics, including a tiny camera, display, processor, eye tracker, wireless charger, and a radio link to the outside world.
Mojo Vision still has a long way to go before its lenses hit the shelves.The device must pass regulatory scrutiny and overcome social discomfort.Earlier attempts by search giant Google Glass to incorporate AR into glasses failed due to concerns about what was being recorded and shared.
“Social acceptance will be difficult to overcome because it’s almost invisible to the uninformed,” said Moor Insights & Strategy analyst Anshel Sag.
But unobtrusive contact lenses are better than bulky AR headsets, Wiemer said: “It’s a challenge to get these things small enough to be socially acceptable.”
Another challenge is battery life.Wiemer said he wanted to get to the one-hour lifespan as soon as possible, but the company clarified after the conversation that the plan was for a two-hour lifespan and the contact lenses were calculated to be full tilt.The company says that typically people only use contact lenses for a short time at a time, so the effective battery life will be longer.”Mojo ships with the goal of allowing wearers to wear the lenses throughout the day, with regular access to information, and then recharge overnight,” the company said.
Verily, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, tried to make a contact lens that could monitor blood sugar levels, but eventually abandoned the project.A product closer to Mojo is Google’s 2014 patent for an invisible camera, but the company has yet to release any.Another competition is Innovega’s eMacula AR glasses and contact lens technology.
A key part of Mojo Lens is its eye-tracking technology, which monitors your eye movements and adjusts the image accordingly.Without eye tracking, Mojo Lens displays a static image fixed to the center of your vision.For example, if you flick your eyes, instead of reading a long string of text, you’ll just see blocks of text move with your eyes.
Mojo’s eye tracking technology uses accelerometer and gyroscope technology from the smartphone industry.
Mojo Vision’s AR contact lens display is less than half a millimeter wide, but the accompanying electronics add to the overall size of the component.
Mojo Lens relies on external devices called relay accessories to process and control images and provide the user interface.
Displays and projectors do not interfere with your real vision.”You can’t see the display at all. It has no effect on how you see the real world,” Wimmer said.”You can read a book or watch a movie with your eyes closed.”
A projector only projects an image onto the central part of your retina, but the image is tied to your ever-changing view of the real world and changes as you re-gaze.”No matter what you’re looking at, the display is there,” Wiemer said. “It really makes you feel like the canvas is limitless.”
The startup chose contact lenses as its AR display technology because 150 million people around the world already wear them.They are light and do not fog up.Speaking of AR, they work even when you close your eyes.
Mojo is working with Japanese contact lens maker Menicon to develop its lenses.So far, it has raised $159 million from venture capitalists including New Enterprise Associates, Liberty Global Ventures and Khosla Ventures.
Mojo Vision has been demonstrating its contact lens technology since 2020.”It’s like the world’s smallest smart glasses,” my colleague Scott Stein said, holding it up to his face.
The company hasn’t said when it will release the product, but said Tuesday that its technology is now “fully functional,” meaning it has all the necessary ingredients, both hardware and software.
Post time: Apr-21-2022
