Coming Soon: Contact Lenses that Display Text Messages; New competitor to Google’s 'Project Glass'? [VIDEO]

Scientists have developed a new technology that projects text messages on a contact lens placed in the human eye.

A research team at Ghent University's centre of micro-systems technology has invented a spherical curved LCD contact display which can be embedded to a contact lens. Text messages will be projected using wireless technology.

"Now that we have established the basic technology, we can start working towards real applications, possibly available in only a few years," said Professor Herbert De Smet, according to Telegraph.

Going by the rumours, the newly developed lens is already deployed in the fashion and medical sectors. According to reports, the lens could be used to control the amount of light falling on the retina of a damaged Iris. The new technology uses the whole curved surface of the lens to capture the text, unlike the previous versions of contact lenses which were limited to some pixels.

"This is not science fiction," said De Smet, the chief researcher on the project.

"This will never replace the cinema screen for films. But for specific applications it may be interesting to show images such as road directions or projecting text messages from our smart phones straight to our eye," he added.

The latest innovation is seen as a contender to Google's recently released 'Project Glass', wherein the eyewear performs all the activities that are usually carried out by a smartphone. Researchers are also looking to develop the lens as a sunglass which can adapt to the intensity of sunlight.

Click on the video below to see the workings of the newly developed contact lens: