Mojo Vision Demos Augmented Reality Contact Lens Design, Aims for Launch Within Three Years

Half-decade-old startup Mojo Vision has announced what could be the first functional augmented reality contact lens to reach the market, offering an integrated microdisplay with a 14,000-pixels-per-inch density alongside image sensors, motion sensors, and radio hardware into possibly the smallest functional form factor.

Showcased at CES earlier this month, the prototype Mojo Lens was demonstrated running live edge detection — overlaying vivid borders around objects, augmenting the user's vision in a dimly-lit environment. "The effect was impressive and it was easy to see how useful this could be," writes Tekla S. Perry for IEEE Spectrum on the hardware. "Even people’s facial features were highlighted — not in extreme detail, but with enough resolution to distinguish a smile from a neutral expression. The company eventually plans to add the ability to zoom to its vision enhancement features, and announced a partnership with the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired to develop additional applications."

Simply boosting the wearer's vision is only step on of Mojo Vision's plan, however: The company is also looking to use the same technology, coupled with eye-tracking capabilities it has yet to implement, to instantiate what it calls invisible computing. "Invisible Computing is the power to shift our focus from technology back to the world around us. Invisible Computing can also be contextual, sensing what is around us by helping us respond dynamically and freely take information and insight with us wherever we go," the company explains of the concept. "We can stay connected with our world, surroundings, and communications, all without the distraction of a device.

"Invisible Computing has the power to make our interactions with people and places more intuitive and attuned by making technology fade away. Since Mojo Vision's founding in late 2015, our multi-disciplinary team of world-class scientists, engineers, designers, medical experts, and product managers has been pioneering new technologies to support the Invisible Computing platform. We're excited at the possibility of doing what no other product has done to date: turn our constant interactions with devices into deeper, better connections with each other."

While Mojo Vision claims that its technology is mature, it's still some way from market: Fast Company's Mark Sullivan, who was given a behind-the-scenes look at the company's work, says Mojo Vision is targeting a commercial launch within the next two to three years.

More information is available on the Mojo Vision website, via IEEE Spectrum, and in the Fast Company article.