The Hollywood vision of ‘Bionic Eyes’ is likely to come true as Scientists of Washington University has made an innovative Bionic contact lens equipped with tiny nano electrical circuits that can zoom the object and display some very useful facts, claimed researchers.
This is the first time that scientist have mounted the electronic circuit in regular contact lenses. They have also used the organic component to sooth eyes and to minimize the hazards which may be possible from the heat emission due to electronic circuit.
The researchers have tested the prototype on rabbits’ eyes for 20 minutes and found no side effects, claimed US scientists.
"This is a very small step toward that goal, but I think it's extremely promising,” said Babak Perviz, the lead researcher and an electrical engineer at the University of Washington.
“The prototype does not actually light up or display information. But it proves that it is possible to build an electronic lens that is safe to wear and doesn't obstruct vision. Though it (prototype lens) does not correct the wearer's vision, but the technique can be used on a corrective lens,” he added.
Finally, this technique has paved a new way of supervision and supergadgets. Now the drivers and pilots will likely be able to see their direction with more comfort and vehicle’s speed projected into the windshield.
The people can surf web without looking at an external device's screen. Video game companies may create some revolutionary game beyond the limit of vision area. It may be also possible that this technique can even create a sight aids for visually-impaired people.
“Looking through a completed lens, you would see what the display is generating superimposed on the world outside," said Parviz. “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,” he further said.
The researchers have admitted that it was really a very tough challenge to weave and install nano-electrical circuit on the lens, but finally the team scientists have done it. They built a few nanometer thick electrical circles from layers of metal and mounted it on the organic layer of lens made of some non-hazardous organic material.
For weaving the electrical circuit, scientists have used inorganic materials, scorching temperatures and toxic chemicals with microfabrication technique and mounted it onto a sheet of flexible plastic made of organic component. They used capillary forces (which has the tendency to curve upwards) for pulling the pieces into position. Then they sprinkled the grayish powder of electrical components to ease off the emission heat and other perilous radiation onto the circuit.
“There is a large area outside of the transparent part of the eye that we can use for placing instrumentation,” informed Parviz while giving future indication of adding wireless communication to and from the lens.
“The researchers hope to power the whole system using a combination of radio-frequency power and solar cells placed on the lens”, he added.
Parviz has informed that soon a less powerful containing few pixels would be available in the market while for the full-fledged display, users will have to wait for some time.
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