Name: Autofocusing reading glasses of the future
Uploaded: 2020-05-28T15:00:34Z
Duration: 6 min 41 s
Description: As you age, you gradually lose the ability to refocus your eyes -- a phenomenon as old as humanity itself -- leading to a reliance on bifocals, contacts and procedures like LASIK surgery. Electrical engineer Nitish Padmanaban offers a glimpse of cutting-edge tech that's truly a sight for sore eyes: dynamic, autofocusing lenses that track your sight and adjust to what you see, both near and far.

Nitish Padmanaban: Autofocusing reading glasses of the future

Autofocusing reading glasses of the future

As you age, you gradually lose the ability to refocus your eyes -- a phenomenon as old as humanity itself -- leading to a reliance on bifocals, contacts and procedures like LASIK surgery. Electrical engineer Nitish Padmanaban offers a glimpse of cutting-edge tech that's truly a sight for sore eyes: dynamic, autofocusing lenses that track your sight and adjust to what you see, both near and far.

Everyone gradually loses the ability to refocus their eyes, a condition called presbyopia that affects two billion people worldwide. Traditional fixes like reading glasses, bifocals, and even LASIK can’t fully restore the eye’s natural flexibility. Recent advances in focus-tunable lenses, combined with eye tracking and distance sensing, now enable glasses that instantly adjust to what a person looks at. Tests with presbyopic users show these dynamic lenses deliver sharper, faster, and more comfortable vision than any static solution.