Magic Leap, the Google-funded startup currently working on an augmented reality head-mounted display, have filed a patent for augmented reality contact lenses that could potentially change the way we see the world around us.
According to the patent, the contact lenses would see a 3D overlay being placed on top of the user’s view of the real world, with an example of the tech being used in a public setting as highlighted by the patent being in a museum, with users being able to draw up information pertaining to displays, along with it also being able to bring up a map of your surroundings in order for you to pick between restaurants, bars and other such venues, checking Google for reviews and generally doing what you’d do with a smartphone, but with your eyes instead.
It sounds a lot like Google Glass, only without the user having to wear a pair of ultra-expensive glasses that could quite easily be stolen from off their face by a passerby, which would make them far safer and drastically reduce the odds of people heckling its wearers whilst they walked down the street.
The lens is one of over 100 patents filed by Magic Leap as the company continues to explore different avenues to appeal to consumers with augmented reality technology, though these contact lenses are undoubtedly the most intriguing of their potential products.
The patent details how the lenses would make use of “outside light,” which is the name given to the light from objects that bounces off the eye and creates what the brain interprets as an image, according to Fortune. It would work by displaying a microscopic image onto the lens, though obviously given how close the lens will be to the user’s eye, it will appear larger to them.
Magic Leap are an incredibly mysterious company, with the very little we know about them being that Google have thrown a bunch of money at them, and the below concept video that offers a look at what we should expect to see when whatever they’re working on is finally unveiled:
AR contact lenses are certainly an intriguing prospect, though given the limited information we’ve received regarding Magic Leap, all we can really do is think about how they might work, given that we’re still not entirely sure what Magic Leap are doing.
