A future for four-eyes

Bifocals were invented in the 1700s and transitions came out in the 1990s, but that’s about it as far as innovations in corrective lenses go.

A person wearing glasses looks thoughtful against an abstract, tech-inspired background.

Or at least it feels like that sometimes.

Seeing is believing

Finnish startup IXI has raised $36.5m to develop the world’s first autofocus glasses, per GamesBeat.

  • The glasses use “cutting-edge technology” to track the wearer’s eyes.
  • The lenses adjust focus in real time — which is pretty crucial to wearing glasses — to help you see more clearly.

Better yet, the glasses actually look like glasses, not some kind of big nerd machine strapped to your face.

  • IXI is prioritizing aesthetics with a “design-first mindset,” and envisions its glasses as a “tech-enhanced lifestyle accessory,” GamesBeat writes.

How does it work?

A close-up on its website shows that a lot of technological components go into these glasses.

  • As for autofocus lenses in general, they use mirrors or algorithms to compare versions of the same image and determine how to focus it.
  • Sometimes they point an infrared beam at the target.
  • With IXI glasses, that will all likely have to be instantaneous and seamless.

If the tech works as intended, perhaps we could someday live in a utopian society where glasses are cool — and more functional than they were in the 1700s.

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