A Dubai-based startup is showing off smart contact lenses which it claims can do everything you can with bulky headsets and a lot more.
Xpanceo's set of eyewear can monitor health and serve all kinds of immersive content. The company claims its smart contact lenses enhance the vision of wearers, allowing them to see in low-light conditions and even the ability to zoom to far-away distant and small objects.
More Natural Computing
"The future of computing is absolutely less intrusive, integrated, more natural computing," Roger Grimes, data-driven defense evangelist at KnowBe4, told Tech Times in an interview. "These devices are an early extension of that, and no doubt will be a product that the masses will wear in the future."
This isn't the first time we've heard of smart contact lenses. After teasing them for several years, Mojo Vision gave up last year and instead branched off into working on minuscule microLED screens.
While Mojo Vision couldn't even deliver a single lens, Xpanceo on its website claims it's working on four, each with its own set of capabilities.
In a demonstration to TechRadar at MWC 2024, the company said its holographic lens is a mixed reality (XR) lens. No one donned the lens at the event. Rather, people were allowed to look through the lens at a holographic projection of the nanoparticles that the company uses in the lens that gives wearers supervision.
Then there's the biosensing lens, which would monitor eye pressure and alert wearers about potential eye issues such as glaucoma. The fourth is an all-in-one lens that combines the capabilities of all the other three and then adds some more on top.
Xpanceo told TechRadar that instead of just monitoring, future iterations of these lenses could even help overcome vision problems. For instance, if someone has myopia (nearsightedness), the smart lens could capture and automatically adjust the image the wearer is looking at.
While the current generation of lenses will be controlled by eye gestures such as blinks and winks, Xpanceo wants to integrate a neural interface to allow wearers to control it with thought instead.
In an email, an Xpanceo representative told Tech Times that the company had gone through several prototypes of the all-in-one lens that offered night vision and zoom, real-time health monitoring, and could be used for augmented reality (AR).
However, on its website, the company clearly states that, unlike headsets, the smart lenses are a medical device and that it was getting ready to make a submission to the FDA for medical testing.
Future Vision
Xpanceo's claims don't impress Gaurav Chandra, programmer and former CTO of the company As You Are. In an interview with Tech Times, he said while there's no denying the smart contact lenses sound like something from a science fiction movie, realistically speaking, the company would have a tough time making headway into the consumer market.
Then there's the engineering aspect. "Sure, technology is advancing rapidly, and we've witnessed the shrinking of bulky devices, and we have also seen Google Glass," said Chandra. "But achieving a fully immersive AR/VR experience demands a significant amount of computational power, something that seems implausible in a device as tiny as a contact lens." As things stand now, he imagines, the smart lens could probably function only for a few minutes.
Comparing it to the Apple Vision Pro frenzy, Chandra believes the novelty of the lenses might draw interest from early adopters. But he fears the first generation of these lenses will meet the same fate as Apple's headset, with people returning them in droves.
"However, I believe these lenses will find a stronger foothold in the B2B sector, like doctors or a sector where people cannot wear a bigger piece of technology on their heads," said Chandra.
Grimes, though is a lot more enthusiastic. He said he is certain the future of computing is seamless integration.
"Who would choose to wear bulky VR goggles or even glasses when you can wear contact lenses and get a more intimate, less distracting experience?" asked Grimes.
Using the example of a camera, Grimes said he can't imagine people in the near future holding up a device to frame a shot like we do today. Instead, he imagines people will just look at something and capture it by gesturing to an embedded device like the smart contact lens.
He jokingly added that while such a camera would make taking selfies a challenge, he is certain the future of computing is the integration of personal devices into our clothing, or on our bodies.
"Our kid's kids will for sure not have to [go] to an Internet browser on a phone or computer to look up information," said Grimes. "Within 10-20 years, that's going to be seen as archaic as using a paper phone book to look up a phone number."
About the author: Mayank Sharma is a technology writer with two decades of experience in breaking down complex technology and getting behind the news to help his readers get to grips with the latest buzzwords and industry milestones. He has had bylines on NewsForge, Linux.com, IBM developerWorks, Linux User & Developer magazine, Linux Voice magazine, Linux Magazine, and HackSpace magazine. In addition to Tech Times, his current roster of publications include TechRadar Pro, and Linux Format magazine. Follow him at https://twitter.com/geekybodh
