Bionic Contacts

For my Com 435 poster presentation about an emerging technology, I chose the topic of bionic contacts. It is a very interesting topic and I learned a lot of information that I was able to share with the observers at the poster fair.

Bionic contacts were invented by an assistant professor, Babak Parviz, in electrical engineering at the University of Washington. He has created a prototype that has been tested on rabbits for up to 20 minutes, in which they showed no negative affects. The contact lens creates a display over the wearer's visual field, so images, maps, and date appear to float in mid-air. The lens includes light emitting diodes, basic wiring for electric circuits, and even a tiny antenna. According to Parviz, his group is currently working on the issue of how to run displays or bio sensors without the need for awkward batteries. They want to be able to transmit signals wirelessly, and so far, the prototype's lens-mounted antenna has shown promise in collecting radio signals.

Some of the possible applications of the bionic contact include:
•Being able to zoom in on distant objects (such as scenery)
•Getting useful facts to pop up in your visual field
•Surfing the web on-the-go (such as while traveling via plane)
•Immersive video games
•Monitoring one's health
•Holographic driving control panels (Used for pilots and drivers)
•Visual aids for the vision-impaired

There are so many beneficial applications from bionic contacts; it really is an amazing invention that will hopefully be ready to use for humans in the near future.

During the poster fair, our classmates tweeted about posters they found interesting and eye capturing. It was cool to read tweets about my poster and I also had fun tweeting about other individual’s posters. Having the class tweet about the posters was a great way to incorporate the use of technology into the classroom.