Pentagon project to put game-like display on contact lenses

by Kyle Orland { Mar 21st 2008 at 3:00PM }

Using contact lenses to simply change your eye color is so passé. Using contact lenses to augment reality is where it's at. At least it is for the Pentagon, which has put out a request for information on a system to display data "not unlike information provided to players of first-person, shooter-type video games" directly on the surface of the human eye. Sounds kind of like those TV display glasses you hear about sometimes, except, y'know, actually cool.

The technology is a little out there, but it's not a total pipe dream. Researchers at the University of Washington are already working on a nano-scale prototype, and the Pentagon wants actual results out the project in three to five years. The means the technology could trickle down into the consumer market in about ten to fifteen years, just in time to be integrated into the Sony PlayStation 5 and the MicroTendo HyperBox 1080. We can't wait!

[Via Wired]

Tags: army, augmented reality, AugmentedReality, contact lenses, ContactLenses, DARPA, display, future, monitor, pentagon, research, technology

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Fernando Rocker @ Mar 21st 2008 3:04PM

And what about the Nintendo Super Xii 64 HD?

Michael @ Mar 21st 2008 3:08PM

You mean 5 Cubes Taped together. . .

DangerMouse @ Mar 21st 2008 3:49PM

"And what about the Nintendo Super Xii 64 HD?"

They're still waiting for the green light from Capcom to port Street Fighter IV to it.

caramelzappa @ Mar 21st 2008 4:18PM

Never gonna happen, nintendo doesn't think HD is important.

Curtis the Claw: Brawl Code 1075-0441-3284 @ Mar 21st 2008 4:26PM

It think you guys all missed this...

"MicroTendo HyperBox 1080"

Microsoft and Nintendo merged in the future to make MicroTendo.

Tiptup300 @ Mar 22nd 2008 12:02AM

Cue jokes for "Pink eye of Death" and constant overheating.

Fernando Rocker @ Mar 21st 2008 3:08PM

I want bionic contact lens that allow me to do zoom in, x-ray vision and thermal vision...

Is that too much to ask?

343 Guilty Fart @ Mar 21st 2008 5:45PM

I think I saw this in one of those games that begins with Tom Clancy followed by a dozen or so words and then perhaps an numeral.

micklol @ Mar 21st 2008 10:17PM

na you dont need all those crap

youve got wii

NATO_Duke @ Mar 21st 2008 3:11PM

The world is getting scary.

Worst Review Ever @ Mar 21st 2008 3:14PM

You guys are way off in your predictions for the consoles that will be available 10-15 years from now. Everybody knows that it will be the Proctor & Gamble/Disney collaboration known as the Super Ultra Fun Zone Station vs. the Kelloggs/Yum Inc./GE effort or, Virtual Simulation Center 4.
Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will leave video games in 2013 to capitalize on the new Blurnsball sports market. Amateurs.

Irwin @ Mar 21st 2008 3:19PM

thats cool.
forget the HUD on helmets, that shits obsolete. put the damn things on ure eyes. It could be GRAW like intel displayed on it, thatd be wicked awesome

Vcize @ Mar 21st 2008 3:20PM

So wait, Microsoft is going to buy Nintendo in 10 years?

I'm so excited, finally we'll be able to play play a non-gimped version of MK/SSB online ;)

Co @ Mar 21st 2008 3:26PM

ZINGERZ!!!

Roto13 @ Mar 21st 2008 3:20PM

But do they come in eyeglasses form?

John Z @ Mar 21st 2008 3:30PM

Seconded. As someone with an extreme phobia of sticking ANYTHING in my eyes, contact lenses are not cool. Put it in my glasses and I'll be happy.

Fernando Rocker @ Mar 21st 2008 3:22PM

*Green eyes compatibility will be added in the next firmware update.

Hala Madrid!!! SSBB Code:3866-7729-0830 @ Mar 21st 2008 3:32PM

MicroTendo HyperBox 1080? I knew Nintendo and Microsoft
were up to something but PlayStation 5? Shit call it something else use a roman number or something. Like PSIV and PSV

mr mobius @ Mar 21st 2008 3:39PM

'If this console didn't have a realistic 1080 Snowboarding game then I'd sue for false advertising.'

Meant for you. Stupid reply system.

NATO_Duke @ Mar 21st 2008 3:47PM

Problem is that Sony likes to just use 2 & 3, etc. Romans just weren't cool enough to Sony I imagine.

Lion pits FTW!

Thr3e2wenty8 @ Mar 21st 2008 3:48PM

PSX has already been used. But I am wondering if the Micrsoft Nintendo merger means that Master Chief and the Gears guys will be in Super-Duper-Fantastic-Whoopidiee-Doo-Do-Kachoo Smash Brothers..

xFenixKnightx @ Mar 21st 2008 3:55PM

"Master Chief and the Gears guys will be in Super-Duper-Fantastic-Whoopidiee-Doo-Do-Kachoo Smash Brothers."

One can only dream...

Hala Madrid!!! SSBB Code:3866-7729-0830 @ Mar 21st 2008 4:15PM

If SSBB has Snake anything is possible but I'll be too violent for the T rating.

Bloody chainsaws and mushrooms don't mix

Mr.ESC @ Mar 21st 2008 4:56PM

"Bloody chainsaws and mushrooms don't mix".

That would grant it a M for mature for violence,gore and drug abuse

mr mobius @ Mar 21st 2008 3:36PM

Only Microsoft would keep that old technology.

Wii's successors will have Mario HoverKart using real hoverkarts in your living room as controllers.

It'll also have Super Smash Bros Deluxe. It'll have 100+ stages and every character from every Nintendo game of the past 20 years, even Goombas and ChuChus will be playable characters. It'll have not just demos of upcoming games but have every single game from the Wii catalogue (including VC) as a bonus disc free with it.

Fernando Rocker @ Mar 21st 2008 3:38PM

You forgot about the 64 people online multiplayer lag free in Super Smash Bros Deluxe and the inclusion of Mega Man.

DangerMouse @ Mar 21st 2008 3:38PM

I want a HUD that tells me how much money i have in my wallet.

Shagittarius @ Mar 21st 2008 3:40PM

.34

DangerMouse @ Mar 21st 2008 3:46PM

change is for the pockets.

mmxzero @ Mar 21st 2008 11:52PM

An In-Life HUD would be cool, with scan-visor capabilities.

mr mobius @ Mar 21st 2008 3:38PM

If this console didn't have a realistic 1080 Snowboarding game then I'd sue for false advertising.

Kye NFC: 7016 - 9552 - 1191 - 8991 @ Mar 21st 2008 3:42PM

I wonder how it's powered.

Dr. Stabbingworth @ Mar 21st 2008 4:07PM

As asinine as it sounds, probably the blinking of your eyelids.

Microswirl @ Mar 21st 2008 3:45PM

WE ARE BORG.
YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED.

FOXHOUND @ Mar 21st 2008 6:03PM

Damn... beat to the 'borg comment. LoL

Though this totally throws out the possibility of a "solid eye" patch technology that rivals Old Snake's own... and not the doofy TIGER Electronics' "R-ZONE".

Reemas @ Mar 21st 2008 3:53PM

hopefully buy then developers will be able to figure out how to use the power of CELL.

xFenixKnightx @ Mar 21st 2008 3:56PM

C'mon now, lets not get way ahead of ourselves.

sicsided @ Mar 21st 2008 4:00PM

so now people would be really screwed when they lose it?

lose your info and everything. damn.

Dr. Stabbingworth @ Mar 21st 2008 4:09PM

This is the kind of technology that could help humans make great strides. Better night vision, HUDs for driving, danger assessment, etc.

Personally I'd like a return to simpler times when there weren't signs everywhere. Between a HUD that eliminates signs and burying power lines, I think we could be living in much nicer areas (I live in the clusterfuck suburbs, btw).

Gamer Jay @ Mar 21st 2008 4:14PM

Go UW!

Booxatron @ Mar 21st 2008 5:08PM

Good to see the Huskies winning at something...

Silvertusk @ Mar 21st 2008 4:47PM

Shadowrun becomes more real every day..

Arturo @ Mar 21st 2008 4:59PM

so what happens if you get water in your eyes or if you cry?

WiNG @ Mar 21st 2008 6:02PM

-5 EXP

Arttemis @ Mar 21st 2008 5:41PM

I'm not at all excited about the gaming applications this could bring... compared to how incredible the thought of game-like functionality this could bring to real world applications.

HUDs for everyday life, not just in your video games.

Combine this display with mind reading electroencephalograph like the basic Emotiv, as well as some finger-implemented diodes to interact with HUD-displayed elements via multi"touch", and we have seemingly magical capabilities!

I seriously I hope to see a HUD via this technology firsthand.

Shmil @ Mar 21st 2008 6:08PM

the MicroTendo HyperBox 1080's launch games will be Duke Nukem Forever, or starcraft ghost, and Sadness

horngreen @ Mar 21st 2008 7:05PM

kids already have HUDs they are called cell phones. You just stare at them all day anyways waiting for "something" to happen. What's with that? Why are twenty somethings and under so amazed by cell phones? Older people like me should be amazed not you young uns. How many people will wander into traffic looking at email on their contacts? Hopefully all of them.