EyeNetra, a company started by researchers at MIT, wants to use its self-diagnosing eye test technology in virtual reality, and is planning to do this through customized VR displays.
Currently, there are around four billion people in the world who need glasses, and EyeNetra's technology is basically an inexpensive way to test your eyes yourself, which can could be very helpful in remote regions in developing countries.
"As much as we want to solve the prescription glasses market, we could also [help] bring virtual reality to the masses," said Ramesh Raskar, co-founder of EyeNetra, in a statement.
The virtual reality market is on its way up and is expected to be worth $150 billion by 2020, making it a great market to enter. If there are four billion people who need glasses worldwide, and the likes of Google and Facebook want to bring VR to everyone, that means there are potentially four billion people that need their own prescription VR headset.
Prescription VR headsets could make virtual-reality in general more form-fitting, enabling a much more immersive and comfortable VR experience for users. Prescription screens could help solve another issue too, however. That is figuring out how to align the eye lens, prescription lens and the virtual reality display.
The new device is able to measure how optical refractive errors for a user will affect how patterns are seen on the digital display, just like a VR display. Virtual Reality companies would be able to create screens that are pre-corrected to what a user needs. Basically, vision correction is pre-built into the headset.
This kind of approach could change virtual reality, with billions of dollars having been invested into the technology so far. In 2014, Facebook bought Oculus VR for a whopping $2 billion. Not only that, but Google, Microsoft and a number of other companies also backed Magic Leap with over $540 million.
In the near future, EyeNetra is aiming to capitalize on the trend of "consumerizing health," in which consumers are able to use medical tools for personal use. The company says that the biggest aspect it could have is bringing its technology to places like schools and to people in their homes.
