Tom
An Old Friend
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Contact lenses with imprinted electronic circuits and lights for augmented reality display vision are under development by University of Washington scientists.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The UW engineers used microscopic scale manufacturing techniques to create a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with imprinted electronic circuits and lights. If used by human beings, a pair of contact lenses with circuits and lights would be the perfect display for augmented reality systems.
[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The prototype device contains an electric circuit as well as red light-emitting diodes for a display, though it does not yet light up. The lenses were tested on rabbits for up to 20 minutes and the animals showed no adverse effects. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Looking through a completed lens, you would see what the display is generating superimposed on the world outside," said Babak Parviz, a UW assistant professor of electrical engineering. "This is a very small step toward that goal, but I think it's extremely promising." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Researchers built the circuits from layers of metal only a few nanometers thick, about one thousandth the width of a human hair, and constructed light-emitting diodes one third of a millimeter across. The researchers hope to power the whole system using a combination of radio-frequency power and solar cells placed on the lens. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Science fiction readers are fortunate to have had this idea presented to them several years ago. In his 2006 novel Rainbows End, sf writer, computer scientist and mathematician Vernor Vinge described a near-future world in which everyone used smart contact lenses. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Miri... leaned her head forward, and stuck a finger close to her right eye. "You already know about contacts, right? Wanna see one?" Her hand came away from her eye. A tiny disk sat on the tip of her middle finger. It was the size and shape of the contact lenses he had known. He hadn't expected more, but... he bent closed and looked. After a moment, he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it. "I'm driving it at safety max, or you wouldn't see the lights." The tiny lens became hazy, then frosty white. "Uk. It powered down. But you get the idea.."
(Read more about Vinge's smart contact lenses) [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The results were presented today at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' international conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems by Harvey Ho, a former graduate student of Parviz's now working at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif. Other co-authors are Ehsan Saeedi and Samuel Kim in the UW's electrical engineering department and Tueng Shen in the UW Medical Center's ophthalmology department. [/FONT](Read more about Vinge's smart contact lenses) [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A full-fledged display won't be available for a while, but a version that has a basic display with just a few pixels could be operational "fairly quickly," according to Parviz. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Read about other efforts at establishing augmented reality displays: [/FONT]
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[*]Augmented Reality Humanoid Robot U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi
This disturbing robot prototype s a "mixed reality" (or augmented reality) set-up that uses an otherwise featureless humanoid robot as a substrate.
[*]Smart Dressing Mirror RFID-Based mi-tu Fashion
This innovative smart dressing system offers real-time mix-and-match style advices to customers when they view their selected fashion items.[/FONT]
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Vernor Vinge:
Science Fiction Inventions and Ideas[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Vernor Vinge (b. 1944) is an American science fiction writer, computer scientist and mathematician. He has written two Hugo award-winning novels (A Fire Upon the Deep A Deepness in the Sky) among a number of other well-liked works. His essay on the technological Singularity is also well-known; in it, he argues that exponential growth in technology will lead to a future that we cannot imagine. Vinge retired from teaching in 2002 to write full-time.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Invention[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Source Work (Publication Date)[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Answerboard - good name for it[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Rainbows End (2006)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Browser Paper - one page IE[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Rainbows End (2006)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Dustmote [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A Deepness in the Sky (1999)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]House-of-Cards Construction [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Rainbows End (2006)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ilse - first intelligent ship brain[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Long Shot (1972)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Localizer - tiny network mote[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A Deepness in the Sky (1999)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Navicloud Custom Debinder [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Rainbows End (2006)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Portal [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]True Names (1981)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Smart Contact Lenses [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Rainbows End (2006)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Video Wallpaper [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A Deepness in the Sky (1999)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Wearables - computers to go[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Rainbows End (2006)[/FONT]
