Pentagon Orders Innovega's Augmented Reality Contact Lenses
Posted on April 14, 2012
BBC News reports that the Pentagon has ordered Innovega's iOptik augmented reality technology, which involves contact lenses paired with glasses containing tiny flat-panel displays. iOptik could enable soldiers to see data about targets superimposed over the actual battlefield.
In a brief entry on its website about the technology's military uses, Innovega writes, "Warfighters need to maintain their full vision while on the battlefield. At the same time a tremendous amount of data, graphics and video are collected and are required by specific warfighters in the field. Some is generated from remote cameras, drones, or satellites. Fully transparent video eyewear that is configured into standard issue field glasses would constitute an important step forward. Innovega is actively in partnership to develop this application and will soon be able to report further on these and related activities."
At CES 2012, Innovega CTO Randall Sprague talked about a version of the iOptik contant lenses product for the public that could be used for watching movies (like a person IMAX) or for gaming. He also talked about application for mobile augmented reality products that can superimpose information on reality. For example, you could receive information about the price of grocery products through your contact lenses while you were shopping.
The technology is being compared to Google's Glass Project and the recently released video showing its potential.
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