Pentagon buys contact lenses with augmented reality

At the beginning of May, 2019 the Agency of perspective research projects in the field of defense of the USA (DARPA) relating to the U.S. Department of Defense signed with the French company IMT Atlantique the purchase agreement of contact lenses with augmented reality.

Two weeks before IMT Atlantique company announced creation of "the first-ever autonomous contact lenses with the flexible microbattery". Such lens is capable not only to adjust visual acuity, but also to transfer visual information on a wireless network.

The Pentagon buys contact lenses with augmented reality

That it is even more important, the innovation lenses are capable to perform these functions without bulky external power source. The microbattery is capable to be charged continuously from a light source within several hours.

Contact lenses were developed first of all for application in medicine and automotive industry, but the invention attracted interest both of the Pentagon, and of Microsoft which signed the contract with U.S. Army for deliveries of headsets of augmented reality of HoloLens in 2019. Terms of the beginning of deliveries of "smart" contact lenses to U.S. Army do not reveal yet.

The Pentagon searches for hi-tech means of augmented reality more than ten years and financed several similar projects. In January, 2012 announced DARPA that the American technology firm Innovega develops the contact lenses of iOptiks projecting digital images on a normal pair of glasses, creating the miniature display needlessly in bulky devices.

In 2015 researchers of EPFL provided the contact lens financed by DARPA which allows to change the scale of the visible image. However, researchers came to a conclusion that the technology is suitable for age visual impairment better, and for the battlefield.^[1]

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