10:54 AM PST on Thursday, January 17, 2008
By KATHERINE SATHER / KING5.com staff
SEATTLE – The idea of bionic eyes has played a part of many superhero stories over the years, with characters like Terminator boasting the ability to zoom in on far away objects.
Engineers at the University of Washington say that fairy-tale concept is becoming closer to reality.
At an international conference Thursday, engineers revealed they had found a way to make a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights.
They say the uses of lenses with virtual displays are countless: They could help people with vision impairment or produce holographic driving control panels.
"Looking through a completed lens, you would see what the display is generating superimposed on the world outside," said Babak Parviz, a UW assistant professor of electrical engineering, in a press release. "This is a very small step toward that goal, but I think it's extremely promising."
Researchers say building the lens was a challenge, since materials that are safe for use in the body are delicate. Their prototype contains an electric circuit and red light-emitting diododes for display, but it does not yet light up. The lenses were tested on rabbits, and the animals showed no adverse effects.
Researchers envision many uses for the lenses, once they're fully developed. They could be used to surf the internet on a mid-air virtual display screen. Video games could be taken to new levels.
"People may find all sorts of applications for it that we have not thought about. Our goal is to demonstrate the basic technology and make sure it works and that it's safe," said Parviz, who heads a multi-disciplinary UW group that is developing electronics for contact lenses
By KATHERINE SATHER / KING5.com staff
SEATTLE – The idea of bionic eyes has played a part of many superhero stories over the years, with characters like Terminator boasting the ability to zoom in on far away objects.
Engineers at the University of Washington say that fairy-tale concept is becoming closer to reality.
At an international conference Thursday, engineers revealed they had found a way to make a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights.
They say the uses of lenses with virtual displays are countless: They could help people with vision impairment or produce holographic driving control panels.
"Looking through a completed lens, you would see what the display is generating superimposed on the world outside," said Babak Parviz, a UW assistant professor of electrical engineering, in a press release. "This is a very small step toward that goal, but I think it's extremely promising."
Researchers say building the lens was a challenge, since materials that are safe for use in the body are delicate. Their prototype contains an electric circuit and red light-emitting diododes for display, but it does not yet light up. The lenses were tested on rabbits, and the animals showed no adverse effects.
Researchers envision many uses for the lenses, once they're fully developed. They could be used to surf the internet on a mid-air virtual display screen. Video games could be taken to new levels.
"People may find all sorts of applications for it that we have not thought about. Our goal is to demonstrate the basic technology and make sure it works and that it's safe," said Parviz, who heads a multi-disciplinary UW group that is developing electronics for contact lenses
