An interesting hybrid of HMDs and video contacts. Would there really be any point to this? Would this be better than external optics?

I am shitting bricks.

Oh, did you find that in the footnotes? I didn't notice them until now. Wow, yeah, I thought it could reduce bulk, obviously, but I didn't think the quality would be better. I mean, ultimately it would be, but with existing technology? How soon could Innovega trump LEEP, for instance? And affordably? I guess once the contacts are perfected they'd be really cheap to manufacture. That's what the article said. So with such a setup, there would just be bare microdisplays with no external optics between the screens and the eyes, just the contact lenses?

EDIT: The Innovega footnote is broken, but here's their site: http://innovega-inc.com/

WOW! So this solves the previously intractable "you can't have high-FOV without bulky optics" problem! These will be the key to Snow Crash-style goggles. You just need two tiny microdisplays and the thinnest of frames to hold them up.

http://innovega-inc.com/

That is the company behind these. I am going to take a big leap and say that they are legitimate (Hard to say for sure, considering the kind of checkered past that VR companies have in general, but they have some good videos showing prototypes...)

But if these are indeed legit, and they are sure they can fabricate them using existing contact lens production facilities (As they claim they can), then this changes everything. The lens design they outline is incredible! It only magnifies polarized light, meaning that your normal view of the world looks exactly the same with these contacts in. Only microdisplays are magnified!

Still researching the viability of this, and trying to wrap my head around it. People have thought of this in the past, and there are lots of reasons to not do it (Sanitation, long term usage cost, convenience, comfort, etc), but if they have really accomplished the level of performance they claim, this is a game changer.

Well, sanitation and cost shouldn't be any more of a problem than with standard contact lenses, right? I am a contact wearer, so I'm sure I'd have no problem.

Sanitation:

For single users, no, it is not that much of an issue. Problem is, a lot of HMD usage scenarios right now require that the units be used by many different people, many of whom are not accustomed to taking care of contacts. The only solution would be to give each person a new pair of contacts every time they use the display.

Cost:

We don't know yet. Even if they are low cost, they very well might not last as long as normal contacts.

Wait, this is for real!!!!!! No, way!!!

These guys are going to be rich if they can pull this off. Hopefully they will be interested in consumer applications.

Oh, yeah, for arcades and such. I'm interested in these for personal use, though. I'm glad I posted this here, since you explained the full meaning of this technology. I didn't fully realize how amazing this is. Now I wonder how long it will take them to develop and bring to market. 5-10 years?

Haha, Cyber, you thought it was fake? Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it?

Well I wear contacts. They are not that big a deal once you get used to them. But I don't think I'd be interested in wearing someone else's used contacts. It might also be strange for someone who never wore them. But probably worth it if they are as good as I imagine.

Color me impressed ! And although I've got a normal vision, I really think I wouldn't mind to wear a pair of these contact lenses for prolonged time. Duh, now that's what I call progress !

Any optometrist would gasp at someone sharing contacts. I wore contacts until I got laser surgery, so I know that sterility is a big concern. A lot of people can't stand anything in their eyes as well. It makes it a tough sell for the general populace.

Also, what kind of heat does this contact generate? I'm just curious as it will be in direct contact with the cornea; will someone be able to hack my sunglasses and cause the contacts to overheat and fry the top layer of my corneas? This is obviously dealing with some power transfer over air, so is it electromagnetic conduction or maybe some custom AC transmission? How will it deal with interference? Too many questions...

You should look at the site, it would answer most of your questions. The contact lens is merely a magnifier, no electronics or displays onboard. All that stuff is still in the glasses, including the displays, the contact just lets you focus on it without tons of bulky lenses.

Ahh...after reading through the site I understand. I thought this contact operated like the contacts mentioned in the first post. If one could combine this with OLED technology it would be pretty neat...I mention OLED tech because it can be up to 70% transparent and can be printed on bendable plastic. Seems like a perfect fit for sunglasses/contact lense magnifiers.

Yup, it would be.

To me, this solution is FAR preferable to fabled "video contacts". I mean, the screen moves wherever your eyes do, so for augmented reality, you would need extremely precise eyetracking to compensate for that. This allows the best of both world, IMO.

Although after looking over everything I can, the only mention I can see of some kind of launch date is the hope that the tech will be commonplace by 2020. Not exactly a near term solution.

I couldn't find anything about a release date. If they are to be commonplace by 2020, they must be released before 2020, maybe 2015. The video they have shows they've already built functioning prototypes. Is it just a matter of funding, or do they have more refinement to do? The video looks great to me. I'd be happy to have whatever they have now. I'm sure they'd be safe since they have no electronics onboard.

Well I've been waiting like 20 years now for Virtual Reality. Whats another 9 years?

I also used to wear contact lenses as well before I got laser eye surgery, if they can combine this with normal contact lens technology then I see 2 solutions to long term use and sanitation, for users who use this technology on a regular basis there are contacts that can be worn for up to 6months at a time without taking them out so that shouldn't be a problem as long as this type of lens is compatible with that type of contact lens technology, for multiple users you would have single use throw away lenses.

Once they perfect these and mass produce I don't see any reason why they should cost more than normal contacts except for how much they add to the price for patent royalties to recover R&D costs and make themselves money.
I think that if they are too expensive then adoption will be low (except military/research use) forcing the cost even higher, as amazing as this will be for people like us it will be very niche at first as a lot of people don't like the idea of contact lenses in their eyes.

Personally I'd use normal contacts for VR if they could magnify enough to eliminate the need for optics, obviously this would essentially render you blind when not looking at the VR display but maybe it could be possible to make some glasses to reverse the magnification enough so that you don't need to take the contacts out when taking a break for VR (i.e. to grab a drink or take a slash)

In any case this tech could definately revolutionize VR and I agree with Palmer it seems to be a better option then OLED contact Lenses

Umm, yeah. I see this as a tool for VR research but that's about it. Today's geeks are still too cool to be seen in normal 3d glasses let alone blinding contact lenses...
Would i try it? Hell yeah, but the numbers for mass consumption isn't going to happen. It would be far easier to just build decent HMD's for mass market which is taking forever.

@Okta: These contacts only effect polarized light. So you can walk around with them like normal. Only the special screen is magnified.

I love playing devils advocate, even if i dont read the subject matter

Next problem.... What are the chances those contact lenses can keep those screens in focus while the distance will vary and shift. I say zero Magnification that strong if am correct will have a very small tolerance for focal length..

I wonder what will happen when I wear polarized sunglasses?