This year’s CES is full of surprises. At a time when tech giants like Meta, Google, and others are popularising smart glasses, a Finland-based startup called IXI Eyewear showcased a pair of glasses with adaptive lenses that can dynamically adjust the focal length depending on where the wearer is looking.
Unveiled late last year, these glasses weigh only 22 grams and come with eye-tracking sensors that help change prescription on the fly, thanks to the lenses made from liquid crystal glass. The company says its glasses are better than the current bifocal and varifocal lenses that are currently available in the market and are designed to replace traditional reading glasses.
Both bifocal and varifocal lenses require the wearer to look through the correct part of the lens to focus on near and faraway objects, and while varifocal lenses do improve on this aspect, they usually require an adaptation period and may cause distortions in peripheral vision.
These glasses weigh just 22 grams. (Image Source: IXI)
In a statement to CNN, IXI Eyewear CEO Niko Eiden said, “Modern varifocals have this narrow viewing channel because they’re mixing basically three different lenses. There is far sight, intermediate and short distance, and you can’t seamlessly blend these lenses. So, there are areas of distortion, the sides of the lenses are quite useless for the user, and then you really have to manage which part of this viewing channel you’re looking at.”
He added that IXI glasses will have a much bigger “reading” area for near vision, and while it won’t be as large as the lens itself, the company says it has optimised its position. However, the glasses do allow the wearer to look at faraway objects using the full lens are, something varifocal lenses miss out on.
IXI Eyewear says it plans to launch its autofocus glasses sometime next year and that they will be much more expensive than traditional glasses. For those wondering, the user’s eyes are tracked using an array of photodiodes, which can convert light into electrical signals and bounce off infrared light to measure reflection and determine where the user is looking.
One downside of IXI’s autofocusing lenses is that they will need to be charged. The company has managed to pack in the charging port in the temple area, but they may require overnight charging.
Story continues below this ad
IXI’s glasses will also have some visual distortions. According to Eiden, “In our lens, of course, there is this blend area. The center part is the sharp area, and then there is the edge where the liquid crystal stops and which is not that great to look into, but the center area is large enough that you can use that for reading. So, we do have our own distortions that we’re introducing, but the majority of the time, they will not be visible.”
Since these glasses will have electronics inside, the company is adding a failsafe mode, which would shut them down to the base state of the lens, which would let you look at faraway objects with ease.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
