Augmented reality contacts are real, and could be here sooner than you think

guest · Jan 17, 2020

Augmented reality contacts are real, and could be here sooner than you think
January 16, 2020
https://mashable.com/article/augmented-reality-contact-lenses-mojo-vision/

I'm standing in a Las Vegas hotel suite and I've just gotten a glimpse at the future seemingly every spy movie has promised: contact lenses with tiny built-in displays that beam information directly into your eyes.

They're the product of Mojo Vision, a startup that's been quietly working on augmented reality contact lenses. Though the company says a consumer-ready product is still years away, it's showing off its AR tech for the first time as part of its vision to one day replace the smartphone.

"It's a display, so you can put whatever information you want to see on it," says the company's vice president of product and marketing, Steve Sinclair. "It could be as simple as notifications, like you get on your Apple Watch. But it can be as complex as as anything that fits into the real world and gives context to the real world, which I think is what people expect when they talk about AR."
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And even though Mojo Vision has some of the tech down, there are still many unanswered questions about how these types or augmented reality interfaces will work — not to mention whether or not there will be an appetite for tiny AR displays in our eyeballs.

That's partially why the company says it will first target medical use cases for the lenses. [...] the company is, working with the FDA on specialized lenses that can help people with low vision or conditions that affect eyesight, like macular degeneration.

"We aspire to be a consumer company that sells this to everyone. We hope to someday replace smartphones."
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guest · Jan 17, 2020

Mojo Vision is working on a contact lens with an embedded 14,000ppi display
January 16, 2020
https://www.techspot.com/news/83587-mojo-vision-working-contact-lens-embedded-14000ppi-display.html

Better vision through technology: The day is coming when people will be able to augment their vision with a heads-up display (HUD) or even correct impairments not currently treatable. Whether through glasses, contacts, or ocular implants, this technology is coming.

The lens will use a combination of technologies to provide an augmented reality HUD that provides detailed information to users about their surroundings.
The prototype only has a green monochromatic screen and it has to be connected to a sizable battery and external processor. Still, the company is hoping to make it fully wireless by the time it is ready for the public. According to The Verge, which got a peek at the prototype, Mojo claims its final ready-for-market lens will have a 14,000ppi display, image sensor, radio, and motion sensor.

It still has a ways to go before it has a workable version, though. Other than refining the tech, Mojo Vision will have to get an endorsement from the US Food and Drug Administration to sell it.
For now, the project remains in the early developmental stages, with no timeline for release. The startup has raised over $100 million in funding to complete the lens, but as it is with projects like this, it may never see the light of day (no pun intended).
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guest · Apr 29, 2020

This AR contact lens startup is gaining steam despite Magic Leap's struggles
Mojo Vision, which is building an augmented reality contact lens, said it's raised an additional $51 million
April 29, 2020
https://www.cnet.com/news/this-ar-c...-gaining-steam-despite-magic-leaps-struggles/

There's little debate that, as tech pushes further into our lives, we'll soon be using augmented reality glasses that overlay computer images on the real world. While we still don't know when that'll happen, or what companies we'll be buying them from, investors are making their bets -- including a $159 million bet with a small contact lens startup called Mojo Vision.

Mojo Vision, a startup with staff made up of veterans from the tech industry's biggest hitters, including Google, Amazon, HP and Apple, is betting we'll eventually be wearing contact lenses instead of computer-assisted glasses. And on Wednesday, the company announced it secured another $51 million in funding, bringing its total to more than $159 million.

It's unclear when Mojo Vision's smart contacts will make their way to market, but the company has been discussing the tech more publicly in the past year.
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"They're not just meant to give everyday people James Bond powers in their eyes; they're really looking to assist people whose vision impairment could use help, like those with macular degeneration," CNET's Scott Stein wrote after seeing the technology.
For now, it seems investors are willing to keep backing the company.
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mirimir · Apr 30, 2020

That'd be very cool.

guest · Aug 25, 2021

Mojo Vision crams its contact lens with AR display, processor and wireless tech
August 24, 2021
https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/mo...-with-ar-display-processor-and-wireless-tech/

A sci-fi vision is coming into focus. On Tuesday, startup Mojo Vision detailed its progress on a tiny AR display it embeds in contact lenses, providing a digital layer of information superimposed on what you see in the real world.

The Mojo Lens centerpiece is a hexagonal display less than half a millimeter wide, with each greenish pixel just a quarter of the width of a red blood cell. A "femtoprojector" -- a tiny magnification system -- expands the imagery optically and beams it to a central patch of the retina.
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The lenses are ringed with electronics, including a camera that captures the outside world. A computer chip processes the imagery, controls the display and communicates wirelessly to external devices like a phone. A motion tracker that compensates for your eye's movement. The device is powered by a battery that's charged wirelessly overnight, like a smartwatch.

"We have got this almost working. It's very, very close," said Chief Technology Officer Mike Wiemer, detailing the design at the Hot Chips processor conference.
If it succeeds, Mojo Lens could help people with vision problems, for example by outlining letters in text or making curb edges more apparent.
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guest · Jan 7, 2023

Another company has stopped working on smart contact lenses
Mojo Vision says its pivoting away from the sci-fi-like tech and towards making MicroLED displays.
By Mitchell Clark - January 7, 2023

One of the companies working on smart contact lenses is calling the project off. On Friday, Mojo Vision announced that it’s going to “pivot its business and focus its resources” on the MicroLED display tech it built during its work on the Mojo Lens (via Axios). Unfortunately, part of the pivot includes laying off around 75 percent of its workers as it restructures, according to a news post from the company’s CEO, Drew Perkins. The company had around 150 employees, according to data from PitchBook and LinkedIn.
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The post says the reason for the change is that Mojo hasn’t been able to keep raising money to work on its smart contact lens. “The slumping global economy, extremely tight capital markets, and the yet-to-be proven market potential for advanced AR products have all contributed to a situation where Mojo Vision has been unable to find additional private funding,” wrote Perkins.

When the company showed off the Mojo lens at CES 2020, it was clearly still far from hitting the market. The 14,000 pixel-per-inch screen in the demo unit seemed to do its job, but it had to be connected to an external battery and processor — not exactly ideal if you actually wanted to wear it on your eye.
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Mojo isn’t the first company that’s had to halt work on eye-based wearables. Verily, a subsidy of Google parent-company Alphabet, paused its research on contact lenses that can monitor a wearer’s glucose levels in 2018.
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