The world's first AR contact lens is coming! With the touch of the eye, you can take pictures and navigate

Zhi DongXi (public number: zhidxcom)

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The prototype of the world's first AR contact lens Mojo Lens is here!

On April 7, the news of Zhidong, the American startup Mojo Vision recently released a prototype of its own AR contact lens Mojo Lens on its official website.

According to the official website information, the AR contact lens has three highlights: the world's smallest and densest pixel Micro LED display, low latency communication technology for AR devices (Low Latency Communication), and ultra-accurate eye tracking system.

▲AR contact lens Mojo Lens prototype

In addition to hardware development, Mojo Vision's software division also introduces basic operating system code and user experience (UX) components so that other partners can better develop the corresponding products.

According to the information on the official website, Mojo is already cooperating with some sports brands to develop the next generation of AR contact lenses. "Our goal is to allow users to be more focused during training, and to maximize their abilities by seeing their own or others' training data in real time through AR devices without holding various devices."

▲The future scene depicted by Mojo Vision

First, what does the new generation of AR contact lenses look like?

Scott Stein, a reporter for american technology media CNET, personally experienced the prototype of this AR contact lens.

Now the prototype of the Mojo Lens is not the final product, the power system inside the device has not yet been fully activated, and it also needs to be powered by external power, so it is a safety hazard to wear it directly.

Scott Stein can only power the AR contact lenses by holding a special small bracket and holding the AR contact lenses close to his eyeballs to feel the display.

According to Scott Stein's experience, users can not only intuitively see various information interfaces, but also find destinations based on navigation information.

And all this information will be presented on a hexagonal miniature display, which is also one of the highlights of this AR contact lens prototype.

With a diameter of less than 0.5 mm, 14,000 pixels per inch and a pixel pitch of 1.8 microns, this Micro LED display is the smallest and densest screen in the world.

The screen also features MojoVision's custom optical chip, which displays text, images and high-definition video on the wearer's retina.

"I can open an app if I keep my eyes on an app's icon for a few seconds." Scott Stein shared his experience and said, "If you turn your gaze off the page, you can close the app or open another app. ”

But he also mentioned that figuring out how to control the user interface with eye tracking technology is not easy. "Sometimes, my operations don't work as expected."

Second, the new eye tracking function to monitor eye data in real time

The Mojo Lens prototype features custom accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers that enable continuous eye tracking, allowing users to see sharp AR images as their eyes move.

Unlike the optical eye tracking technology used in most VR/AR devices, AR contact lenses are sensors that are attached directly to the surface of the eyeball to sense eye movements. Therefore, combined with a proprietary motion sensing algorithm, Mojo Lens's eye tracking system is an order of magnitude more accurate than the optical eye tracking system of AR/VR devices.

At the same time, AR contact lens Mojo Lens will control the display of information through Invisible Computing technology, which can make the information on the device only present when needed. "With Mojo Lens's ultra-precise eye tracking technology, you can now access and interact with AR content at a glance." Mojo Vision believes this will lay a good foundation for the user experience.

Third, Mojo creates a proprietary communication protocol to achieve ultra-low latency data transmission

In fact, the AR contact lens we are talking about now is not a standalone hardware device, but only a display screen, which also needs to be connected to a computing unit. "This computing unit could be a neck-mounted device. But I don't see the product. Scott Stein said.

As for why not the phone as a computing unit for AR contact lenses?

Steve Sinclair, senior vice president of product at Mojo Vision, explains: "Given the data transmission capabilities of AR contact lenses, this device needs to be close to the head. He believes that this computing unit may be built into helmets and even glasses in the future, but now the neck-mounted device is the most suitable option.

Mojo Vision product roadmap

With the device in place, how will AR contact lenses connect to the computing unit?

Steve Sinclair believes that Bluetooth Low Energy is more power-hungry. "We need to find new solutions on our own."

Mojo Vision custom designed an ASIC for Mojo Lens that contains an Arm Cortex-M0 core and a 5GHz radio communication module.

The Arm Cortex-M0 core is capable of transmitting data from the AR contact lens transmission sensor to the neck-mounted computing unit and some AR content onto the Micro LED display. At the same time, thanks to Mojo's proprietary communication protocol, the radiocommunication module is capable of communicating in an ultra-low latency manner required for AR applications.

The neck-mounted computing unit is involved in running the application, analyzing eye tracking data, and updating the image position within 10 milliseconds.

Despite finding a new solution, Sinclair said the company still faces some new challenges. For example, how to ensure that the wireless connection can receive or not cause interference, Mojo Vision hopes to achieve long-distance connections in the future.

The Gospel of the Myopic Party? Not only can you correct your vision, but you can also take pictures

Mojo Vision hopes that lenses can use AR contact lenses as an auxiliary visual device to help some people with visual impairments.

"We can imagine users with high myopia wearing a pair of AR contact lenses with high-resolution cameras. When they're looking at something, AR contact lenses can take a very high-definition photo, and then users can make up for their vision deficiencies by zooming in and out of the user interface presented by AR contact lenses. Steve Sinclair said.

At present, Mojo Vision is following a more important process, that is, mojo lens as a contact lens to obtain US food and drug administration approval, and to support the development of prescription lenses. In the future, Mojo Lens hopes to use artificial iris to protect chip hardware devices.

Conclusion: AR contact lenses are coming soon

Judging from the AR contact lens prototype released by Mojo Vision, people have achieved new breakthroughs in display, data transmission and eye tracking technology.

But this is still far from a real AR contact lens that can be worn for a long time, for example, how to solve the battery life problem, how to persuade people to accept such a product full of multiple electronic components in the eyeball.

From this point of view, although Mojo Vision, the world's first AR contact lens product research and development, has been on the AR contact lens track for nearly six years, AR contact lenses are still in a very early stage. Whether AR contact lenses can become a real mobile device and whether Mojo Vision can realize its "future dream" remains to be seen.

Source: Mojo Vision, CNET