 Most of us may be familiar with the Bionic man or the new Bionic woman. Who had parts of their bodies replaced with enhanced electronic and mechanical parts after severe injuries. Well the folks at Washington University have gotten one step closer to making one of those replacements a reality.
On January 17th they announced a prototype device that contains an electric circuit as well as a red light-emitting diode for display, though it does not yet light up. They are currently struggling with materials that can be used for this that will be safe to use in the body, similar to that which are used for current contact lenses. "Looking through a completed lens, you would see what the display is generating superimposed on the world outside," says Babak Parviz, a UW assistant professor of electrical engineering. The researchers plan to eventually power the lenses using a combination of radio frequency power and solar cells placed on the lens according to Parviz. The large portion of the eye outside the transparent portion of the eye could be used to place the required electronics. Imagine the gaming possibilities with a device such as this. Couple this say with a gaming console such as the Wii and you would have a totally submersive gaming experience. Possibly add a wireless set of earbuds and you could be that much closer to a complete virtual reality gaming experience. Of course I could see all kinds of Military applications for such a device as well. Imagine a fighter pilot, tank driver or field commander having access to something like this. I am sure that they are currently using something maybe much like this but with a few refinements this could make the ultimate soldier even more connected.
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