Are you thinking of replacing your current specs? The researchers from the University of Utah's College of Engineering just made a breakthrough that can solve your eyesight problems soon.
In an article written by the Utah Business, the researchers from the said university led by Professor Carlos Mastrangelo and doctoral student Nazmul Hasan just created an adaptive glasses or also known as the "smart glasses". This innovation is made out of liquid-based lenses where each lens has three actuators which help in easily adjusting the focus of the user. Based on the descriptions of the smart glasses published recently in Optics Express, the user can easily see things from different distances as it can easily shift focus.
Mastrangelo shared with The Daily Mail UK that one of their inspirations in focusing on this field of study is the thirst for finding a solution to eyesight problems without the hassles of always changing prescriptions. He further explained that the eye has a natural lens which adjusts every now and then depending on what you're looking at. However, due to aging, this ability of the human eye's lens tends to degenerate which leads most people to have eye glasses with prescriptions.
With the invention by Mastrangelo and Hasan's team, the smart glasses just acts like a young human eye where the lens easily shifts according to the current user's eyes' focus. To make this possible, the team did a lot of work from the lens up to the frames and its accompanying smartphone application.
The liquid-based lens is made out of glycerin while the frame of the smart glasses is beyond ordinary as it has batteries which power up the actuators. On the other hand, the accompanying application for the smart glasses allows users to calibrate their glasses based on their eye prescription. This is easily done via connecting with the phone's Bluetooth connection.
At this moment, the current prototype of this smart glasses is pretty bulky. Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the team from the University of Utah is continuously seeking efforts to make the smart glasses convenient to be worn in a lighter model.
