It is the year 2023. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg was not getting tired of praising his new smart glasses. On the other hand, Apple was making headlines with its Vision Pro headset. Everyone was talking about these smart glasses with great enthusiasm. Due to the features of these glasses like talking to AI assistant, making videos and taking photos, it was being considered a big revolution in the world of glasses. Amidst all this noise, a Finnish startup company “IXI” very secretly invented a technology that could take a smart glass far beyond just a gadget. The result of this effort came in the form of the world’s first auto focus glasses. How is this auto focus smart glasses
In an interview given to “The Next Web”, the company’s founder Nico Eden said that this is a smart optical device, which auto adjusts the focus power of the lens according to the vision needs of the person using it. This feature of this technology is very useful for those people who have trouble seeing both far and near, i.e. who have to use bifocal or progressive lenses. Its most special feature which makes it different from other smart glasses is that it has neither any camera, nor any artificial intelligence, nor any complex system of virtual reality.
Technology Behind the Glasses
The technology of these glasses works in two stages – one is the eye tracking sensor and the second is the liquid crystal lens. Put the power in the glasses, the eye tracking sensor first tracks any small or big activity happening in the eyes. This sensor emits micro light pulses and measures the light reflected from the eyes, which tells where and how far the user of the glasses is looking – near, far or at medium distance. After this the work of the liquid crystal lens starts. This lens is made of a thin layer of liquid crystal between two thin layers of plastic. When this lens comes in contact with the electric field, the structure of the crystal changes and it bends the light in the required direction. Due to this the glasses automatically focus on the distance where your eyes are looking. The best thing is that this whole process takes only 0.2 seconds, i.e. in the blink of an eye.
You Will Not Have To Turn Your Head
While in bifocal or progressive lenses, the angle of the head has to be changed to see the correct distance, there is no need to do so in these autofocus glasses. It gives a clear vision throughout the lens, making reading, climbing stairs or driving easier. Along with this, these glasses look like ordinary glasses and not like a bulky smart gadget.
Challenges and Possibilities
This technology is still in its initial stages. The company believes that just as the camera moved from fixed to autofocus, glasses will also move from static lenses to dynamic lenses. However, this technology still has to pass many tests like medical certification, comfort in long-term use and possible effects on the eyes. Despite all this, this technology raises more hopes of immense possibilities of revolutionary changes in the world of glasses in the future.
