Researchers at the University of Washington, together with a team from Finland, have developed the first working bionic contact lens, and successfully test the prototype on rabbits.

Bionic Contact Lenses

The bionic lens, first unveiled as a concept in 2008, has a single LED pixel and a 5-millimeter-long circular antenna printed onto the surface. To focus the light, the researchers used a Fresnel lens; a layered lens capable of generating an ultra-short focal length.

The antenna was used to receive a gigahertz-range radio frequency from a nearby transmitter. When the lens was outside of the eye, the transmitter was able to deliver power up to 10 feet away, however when the lens was placed on the eye the, the range decreased to less than an inch due to the fluids and tissues which interfere with signal.

The image at right shows a rabbit wearing an earlier version of the lens, which contained a circuit but no light-emitting components.

There are still several hurdles to overcome namely its range, pixel count and human safety tests. The team says the next stage is to develop a prototype with more pixels.

That’s not to say the single pixel lens has no applications, the researchers say that it “could be used in gaming, training, or giving warnings to the hearing impaired.”

The BlindSpot cane, which looks the same as regular white cane, incorporates a smartphone with Wi-Fi, 3G and GPS and a Bluetooth headset; all of which can be charged wirelessly. It also features ultrasonic technology to detect low-hanging objects.

Using such technology the device can locate friends who have checked into locations on Foursqaure and guide the user to them using a voice commands and vibrations.

BlindSpot Smart-Cane For The Blind

BlindSpot Smart-Cane

BlindSpot Smart-Cane For The Blind

BlindSpot was designed by Selene Chew, as part of her final-year industrial design thesis at the National University of Singapore. The design came in joint second at this years James Dyson Awards; netting her $3,200 for her efforts.

The James Dyson Awards is an international design competition that is open to University students in 18 countries. The goal of the competition is to come up with something that solves a problem.

This years winning prize went to Edward Linacre from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, for his Airdrop technology – a concept that extracts moisture from the air to irrigate crops.

No plans have been made to manufacture the new smart-cane, however Chew says she aims to find a suitable company to help further develop the project.

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The new Lumineyes procedure, developed by Dr Gregg Homer at Stroma Medical in California, users a laser tuned to specific frequency to knock out the melanin – or brown pigment of the eye – and this makes it appear blue.

Lumineyes Procedure Turns Brown Eyes Into Blue

The procedure, which is still undergoing clinical trials, takes just twenty seconds with results becoming apparent after two to three week as the melanin fails to regenerate. The fact the melanin cannot regenerate however, makes the technique irreversible – a plus for long lasting effects, but a potential ailment for life if something happens to go wrong.

Natural blue eyes do not actually contain any blue pigment. Instead the pigment is brown but is much less dense at the front of the eyeball. This transparent surface of the eye filters and reflects light rays to make the it appear blue, much the same as the blue sky.

Dr. Homer is still trying to raise another $800,000 to complete clinical trials. But if all goes well, he hopes the procedure, which will cost around $4,800, will be available within 18 months outside the U.S. and 3 years inside the U.S.

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Unlike the GlassesOff app (featured in our last post) – the surgery free iPhone app that claims to correct near-sightedness – which has only been tested on some 100 subjects, the Kamra cornea inlay improved near vision in all the 2,000 volunteers who have tested the implant, according to Minoru Tomita, MD, PhD, executive director of the Shinagawa LASIK Center in Tokyo.

Kamra Cornea Inlay Restores Eyesight

In the latest study – involving 450 people in their 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s who could only read large font headlines – 90 percent of participants said they were happy with the results and 95 percent reported being less dependent on reading glasses.

Those in their 40’s were able to read an additional 4 lines 13-15 line optical charts; those in their 50’s could read 5 more; and those in their 60s could read 7 more.

The technique works by taking advantage of the ‘pinhole effect, which block peripheral rays only allowing focused light to reach the retina. To perform the surgery, the same laser used in LASIK laser eye surgery is used to create a flap in the non-dominant eye. The inlay, which weights less than a grain of salt, is placed on the cornea over the pupil and the flap is reattached.

LASIK laser eye surgery can also correct near-sightedness, but this often comes at the expense of slightly reduced distance vision. The new technique however does not compromise the eyesight and can even be performed in conjunction with LASIK to improve both near and distance vision.

AAO spokesman James Salz, MD, clinical professor of ophthalmology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said:

“It’s very safe and reversible. If we put it in and you don’t like it, we can take it out.”

The Kamra cornea inlay costs about $5,000 to $7,000, which is around the same price as LASIK. The procedure is already available in Europe, Asia, and South America, and makers AcuFocus are hoping to receive FDA approval for the U.S. market sometime next year.

Findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

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The new software, developed by Ucansi, claims to achieve over ‘80 percent improvement in vision acuity,’ to help those who have difficulty focusing on near objects.

GlassesOff iPhone App Treats Near-Sightedness

“As people age, the lens loses its focusing power, resulting in near-vision deterioration. Unable to focus the way we used to, images sent to be processed in the brains’ visual cortex are unfocused and processing is slow and very difficult, resulting in a blurred image.” [Ucansi]

To correct this impairment, the app trains the brain to process blurred images more effectively by teaching users to detect and adapt to patterns called Gabor patches – blurred lines created by different shades of grey.

This of course takes time, but after the initial 3 month training period – 15 minute sessions, 3 times a week – the user learns to recognize and process the blurred lines better, not just on the Gabor patch, but in everything they focus on.

Over the past 3 years the app has been tested on over 100 participants, all of whom suffered from presbyopia, or near-sightedness, with much success. All volunteers reported significant improvements with most saying that after training, they were able to read two lines further down on the optical chart.

GlassesOff was developed by Uri Polat of Tel Aviv University, also co-founder of Ucansi, to help the elderly read without using reading glasses, and let others read without optical aids for longer periods of time.

The app is set to launch on the iPhone early next year, but improved vision won’t come cheap, GlassesOff will cost $95 for the initial 3 months training period, after which time, there will be monthly fees to maintain your eyesight.

The research was presented in September at a meeting of the Entertainment Software and Cognitive Neurotherapeutics Society in San Francisco.

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Developed by Adam Duran, a senior at New Mexico State University, Adrian Lew, a Stanford assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Sohan Dharma raja, a doctoral candidate, the new touch-screen braille writer could provide a cheap and effective way for those with severely impaired vision to utilize the technology of mobile touch-screen devices.

The demo doesn’t explain exactly how the device allows the user to ‘feel’ the keyboard, however judging by previous technology it’s likely some form of haptic feedback that mimics the dots of the braille characters.

The software imposes eight adjustable keys – based on the standard braille keyboard – on the tablet’s touch-screen. To bring up the keyboard the user simply presses eight fingers anywhere on the screen and the button are automatically set to that position. The keyboard can be set to various configurations.

If any problems occur the user can simply reset the keyboard by lifting all fingers and placing them back on the touch-screen.

The software is not the first wireless braille keyboard, however previous designs have been rather limited, and extremely expensive – at least $4000 dollars upwards.

The adjustable nature of the new software accommodates users with small or large fingers. And the fact the software can be utilized with existing tablet technology not only makes it easily accessible, but much cheaper than previous designs.

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All of the above method opt for the same cooling technique to rid eye bags, but a Japanese company claims it’s come up with a new high-tech way to combat tired looking eyes; a vibrator.

Eye Slack Haruka Massage Tool For Black Eye Bags

The Eye Slack Haruka is pegged as a gentle massage tool that reduces sagging under the eyes using vibrations and heat. The company claims just 3 minutes a day is all that’s required to achieve the desired effect.

It does seem a little weird that such a device would employ heat, when the general consensus is to cool the area. But let’s not discredit it just yet; as we all know that massaging techniques can do wonders for relaxing and healing, so there might actually be something to it.

And while you can never completely trust a company’s claim, there are researchers exploring microcurrent vibrations to treat such problems. However there has been little scientific researcher conducted into such techniques so far, and as a result, little evidence to prove it works.

Still, kudos for thinking out of the box, even more so if works, then it will certainly be worth the $132 if it can actually provide a life time of young looking eyes.

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Considering 1 in six people suffer from some kind of hearing disability, that’s a rather substantial amount of the public who are missing out.

Sony Subtitle Glasses

Sony aims to solve that problem with its subtitle glasses. The glasses – which look a whole lot more comfortable than the standard 3D glasses issued by most movie theaters – superimpose the closed captions (or subtitles) on the lenses, in a way that makes it appear as though they were actually being projected on the big screen.

No word on when the glasses will hit the States, but Sony says it hopes to have the glasses in UK cinemas sometime next year.

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The device, which is aimed at helping people who suffer from visual impairment due to conditions such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, incorporates two video cameras positioned on the sides of the frames to capture the objects around the user; LED lights mounted on the insides of the glasses that light up to provide extra information about the surroundings; and a small pocketable CPU to compute and relay all this information.

Bionic Glasses For Visually Impaired

Dr Stephen Hicks, of the Department of Clinical Neurology at Oxford University where the glasses are being developed, said:

“The types of poor vision we are talking about are where you might be able to see your own hand moving in front of you but you can’t define the fingers…

“We want to be able to enhance vision in those who’ve lost it or who have little left or almost none…

“The glasses should allow people to be more independent – finding their own directions and signposts, and spotting warning signals.” [Telegraph]

The lights will be color-coded to represent humans or different types of objects, and the brightness will determine how close the subject is.

It’s hoped that the additional sensory information provided by the LEDs will allow patients with impaired vision to better navigate their surroundings.

The glasses are still in the early stages of development, however the researchers hope each pair could be sold for around 800 dollars – at least five times cheaper than the cost of draining a seeing-eye dog.

Simulations of the technology were display at this year’s Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.

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Earlier last year, Indian designer Anthony Mallier created the first contact lenses to feature Swarovski crystal. The lenses were designed as part of the Crystal Vision competition organized by DesignBoom and Swarovski.

Sparkle Swarovski Crystal Contact Lenses

Taking the competition organizers quiet literally, Mallier created his Sparkle contact lenses which are embedded with a circle of Swarovski crystal around the edges of the lens.

The Sparkle contacts came in second place in the competition, but while Mallier didn’t net top place with his design, he did beat 4072 other entries from 92 countries.

But lavish contact designs do not stop there, clearly not satisfied with Swarovski crystal, Shekhar Eye Research, also based in India, decided to add real diamonds and gold to their precious contact lenses.

Created by Dr Chandrashekhar Chawan and Sanjay Shah, the standard design features 18 diamonds set on a gold plate, but the company are also offering customized patterns to suit customer’s wants.

Diamond and Gold Encrusted Contact Lenses

While I’m not sure how high the demand for diamond encrusted contact lenses really is, the charitable company is allocating all proceedings from the sales of the contacts to treat people suffering from Stevens Johnson Syndrome – a skin disease that typically arises from a reaction to sulfur-based drugs – free of cost.

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