A team at the University of Utah in the US has developed smart glasses that use liquid-based lenses to automatically focus on whatever a wearer is looking at.
Prototype of the smart glasses. Credit: Dan Hixson/University of Utah
The prototype technology, which was presented at the 2017 CES show in Las Vegas, could spell an end to the need for wearers to swap between different pairs of glasses and enable opticians to make instantaneous changes to a user’s prescription.
The adaptive lenses at the heart of the system consist of flexible rubber-like membranes filled with glycerin. The rear membrane in each lens is connected to a series of three mechanical actuators – powered by a battery in the frame – that push the membrane back and forth like a transparent piston, changing the curvature of the liquid lens and therefore the focal length between the lens and the eye.
Meanwhile, sensors in the bridge of the glasses use pulses of infrared light to measure the distance of objects that the wearer is looking at and instruct the actuators on how to curve the lenses.
Before use, the glasses can be calibrated by the user via a smartphone app. This can then be used to update the glasses with any future changes to user’s prescription.
The team’s efforts are now focused on refining the bulky design of the prototype and developing a market-ready device through spinout company Sharpeyes LLC. Prof Carlos Mastrangelo, who headed up the research, believes a product based on the technology could be available within the next three years.
The group’s research was published in the journal Optics Express.
I’ve wondered for years why these don’t exist. Good to see that the obstacles, whatever they were, are being overcome.
Interesting concept, but not so good for aspherical prescriptions and astigmatism I suspect
Liquid filled lenses aren’t a new invention, I recall about 10 years ago I saw a news story about some very similar glasses which could be adjusted manually using a syringe. (Those glasses were marketed towards third-world countries as a single lens to suit any prescription would make a huge diference towards those living in poverty or remote areas.)
Interesting that BOTH developers from the
University of Utah, happen to be “aliens”, that is, from ancestors from OUTSIDE the USA. So much for the sick obsesion of their present day president.
Those manually-set liquid silicone lenses mentioned earlier, are in production by an Oxford-based company (UK), both for commercial retail and third-world use and have been under development here for some years. Their main advantage would be a reduced need to regularly purchase replacement lenses every few years, for most users.
So what is your point, many invention were from immigrants. I assumed that is what you meant science there is no proof of alien life forms. Oh an just so you know our president encourages legal immigration which these inventors are.