Extended reality (XR) startup Mojo Vision yesterday announced a breakthrough in mixed reality (MR) displays by revealing the feature-rich version of its smart contact lens.
The Mojo Lens started production in 2017 as a single LED product, but now the display contains a wealth of features, including a hi-res microLED display, fast wireless data, battery power, eye-tracking, and eye-controlled user experience (UX).
Currently, the Mojo Lens remains in the prototype stage, although the firm’s product development roadmap foresees prescription cosmetics by the end of the decade.
Steve Sinclair, Senior VP of Product and Marketing at Mojo Vision, said,
“The next year or so for us is going to be taking what we learned from this because we now understand how to build a smart contact lens with all the elements. It’s now optimization. – It’s safety testing. It’s really understanding how it works as a low-vision product”
The news comes after the Saratoga, California-based firm established strategic partnerships with major global brands, including Adidas Running, to create hands-free spatial computing solutions for real-world use cases.
Mojo Vision and Adidas Running are developing a fitness solution to replace smartphones and display crucial user performance data as XR visualisations within the Mojo Lens display so that athletes do not have to look down at a phone.
Mike Wiemer, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Mojo Vision, added,
“Mojo has created advanced foundational technologies and systems that weren’t possible before now. [We] are excited to share our progress and can’t wait to start testing Mojo Lens in real-world scenarios”
In 2015, Mojo Vision gained $160 million USD in capital from high profile technology ventures such as Khosla Ventures, Gradient Ventures, Motorola Solutions, and NEA.
XR for Low-Vision
The company’s Lens project contains navigation tools for low-sighted individuals, assisting with medically approved XR real-world recognition software.
In December 2020, Mojo Vision partnered with the Japanese firm Menicon to distribute its product to the visually impaired.
The news comes after Nreal and Microsoft entered a strategic partnership to create a solution for low-vision children using AR hardware.
The research led to PeopleLens, based on the Nreal Light smart glasses, which employs an AI platform to track and identify individuals around a child. The device also uses spatial audio to read the names aloud of individuals when a child looks at them.
