Eyeglasses have been around for centuries, dating back at least to the 13th century and possibly even the 2nd century. IXI Eyewear, a Finnish company, reckons it has found a way to do them better. Smart glasses that are just… well, glasses? What a novel thought.
When you hear the term ‘smart glasses‘, the first thing that comes to mind is some technological innovation involving AI, information flow, or just turn-by-turn directions hovering in front of your eyes. If you are one of the millions who wear eyeglasses for vision correction, these innovations fall a little flat. Because… well, it’s a pain to get them working with a set of corrective lenses.
Do you think I’m IXI?
IXI Eyewear’s idea is to use technology to create a set of corrective lenses for eyeglass wearers that use technology — specifically eye-tracking — to instantly adapt to whatever you’re looking at. Whether it’s nearby or far off, the (still-in-development) glasses would alter their lenses to bring your subject into focus.
This is possible, says the company, via eye-tracking sensors embedded in the glasses frame that pair with liquid crystal lenses that modify their focus based on eye position. It’s a cool concept, one that could conceivably produce the last pair of glasses you’ll ever own, but IXI’s concept isn’t flawless.
CEO Niko Eiden, speaking to CNN, explains, “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.”
It’s not ideal, of course, but the tech is still in its infancy. Japanese optics companies Elcyo and Vixion are working on similar projects. Elcyo is building “autofocal” glasses, which use custom-developed Fresnel liquid crystal lenses. Vixion’s 01 S glasses take a more mechanical route, but they also look like a bugger to clean. That said, the project was spun off from Japanese glass manufacturer Hoya, so the optics are probably stellar.
IXI’s concept looks cleaner and neater overall, but an eventual release won’t be able to poke affordable with a long pole. Eiden added, “We will be in the really high end of existing eyewear.”
There’s no launch date or pricing yet, but a waitlist is tucked away on IXI’s website. Take your short-sighted self over there to check it out.
