The Mobile World Congress 2024 saw its share of phones, laptops and wearables, but bio-enhancement devices were few and far between. However, they were not absent. Xpanceo this week unveiled four different prototypes of smart contact lenses that could one day become real products that you put in your eyes.
Smart contact lenses could be the holy grail of wearables. I accuse The six million dollar man a 1970s TV show featuring a biomechanically enhanced former astronaut who, among other things, had a bionic eye that allowed him to zoom in and assess targets (there was even a data readout). That, I suppose, is the dream of the smart contact lens, a wearable technology category that has yet to take off.
Xpanceo does not lack ambition. Instead of just one smart contact lens, the company announced four versions:
- A holographic smart contact lens
- A biosensor lens
- A lens with nanoparticles for supervision
- A transparent electronics lens
All of these lenses are as thin as traditional contact lenses, the company claims, but each has its own capabilities. The holographic lens, which Xpanceo demonstrated at MWC 2024, is essentially a mixed reality (XR) lens. In the demo, no one put the lens in their eyes; instead, they looked through the lens on a platform to view a “hologram” of the nanoparticles used in the “supervision lens.” Those nanoparticles could enable low-light vision and, yes, zoom capabilities (see? Steve Austin).
The biosensor lens, which can be used to measure eye pressure and alert the wearer to potential problems with glaucoma, may sound somewhat familiar. Nearly a decade ago, Google announced this was the case work together with healthcare company Novartis to develop lenses that can measure glucose levels through the tears in a person’s eyes.
It’s not clear what became of Google’s projectbut the road to truly smart contact lenses is littered with delays and failures.
After years of trying to perfect an in-eye AR display system, Mojo Vision laid off most of its staff last year and switched to working on ultra-small microLED screens.
Another company, InWith, has been working on embedding a mixed reality display system into Bausch & Lomb contact lenses. After Mojo Vision pulled out, InWith said Ny Breaking “It appears we are the last man standing since Mojo withdrew… We are still investigating clinical trials and are now focusing on FDA regulations.” The company did not immediately respond to our requests for an update on either project, but InWith’s site has not been updated since 2022.
A grand vision
In some ways, Xpanceo’s plans seem even more ambitious. The four lens technologies appear to be a framework for an “all-in-one smart contact lens,” which could include an ultra-small, single-pixel display for content, transparent technology for XR capabilities, and nanoparticles for supervision capabilities. The company believes it can begin “final testing” as early as 2026.
I asked Xpanceo how close they are to bringing the “perfect lens” to market. They told me that the development of all the basic components was largely complete, but that there is still work to be done on a neuro interface, some AR elements and improving their biosensors.
One thing that can distinguish Xpanceo’s vision from, for example, that of Google or InWith is the use of materials. Xpanceo told me that there are fundamental limitations to traditional optoelectronic materials that make them too bulky for their designs. Xpanceo, on the other hand, uses 2D materials that support “a more streamlined and advanced smart contact lens design.” Xpanceo also uses flexible and transparent electronics just a few nanometers thick.
Eye AI
The secret sauce, however, could be – wait for it – AI. Xpanceo told me that its scientists use AI to “predict the properties of new materials and devise methods for creating custom materials.”
The company even promises the integration of a neural interface, meaning you use your brain to control the smart lens, rather than gestures, winks, blinks, or even specific eye movements.
Xpanceo’s ahem vision for its smart contact lenses is futuristic and expansive. The company envisions an all-in-one lens that tracks all kinds of health metrics, including glucose levels, blood pressure, cortisol and more. Based on the measurement, Xpanceo’s lens may display a message recommending that you don’t drink that second cup of coffee because your blood pressure is already high.
These future lenses may even be able to help with vision problems such as nearsightedness and strabismus, automatically adjusting vision and giving your brain perfect vision.
It all sounds fantastic, and while I support the idea of a super-smart contact lens that can show you a hidden world, bring the distance into sharp focus, monitor your health and proactively tell you how to deal with it , no company has ever done that. successfully delivered on a single promise for smart contact lenses.
As Xpanceo admitted to me, no one has put a version of the company’s smart contact lenses in their eyes. “No, not yet. Our lens is a medical device and we are currently in the process of pre-submitting for FDA approval for medical testing.”
Jeremy Kaplan contributed to this report