The scenario

If you could, would you apply Facebook and Snapchat filters to your sight? If the overcast day brought down your mood, would you choose a sunny day filter? What about the rows of buildings outside your bedroom window — would you prefer to wake up to the sparkling view of a giant waterfall? And the endless concrete covering the city, would you prefer it covered in lush green?

What if every day you could see and interact with a version of the world you preferred— a unique view personalised for you according to what makes you happy—all with a few blinks and eye movements?

A persistent, uber-personalised view of the world in a lens

The technology

The Maya Lenz is a blink-controlled, augmented reality contact lens concept that immerses users in a persistent, uber-personalised view of the world with 100% field of vision, 24 hrs a day.

The advanced contact lens is administered via eye drops containing bio-compatible nano-materials that ‘colonise’ the Lenz on the eye.

Combining AR, soft robotics, and invisible computing, the Lenz connects to other wearables, such as smartwatches, to offset processing power and remain cool. Reconfigurable, the nano hardware can be updated via wi-fi just as its software can be, enabling the Lenz to be worn 24/7 and the augmentation of one’s view to be enjoyed uninterrupted through all waking moments.

As well as standard filters and default displays, such as weather and directional information, the Lenz’s key feature is the Mirage—an automated, personalised filter that alters the user’s view to show them more of what they want to see and less of what they don’t.

Prototypes

Prototype #1—Blink interaction simulation

This is a video of an interactive prototype I created to explore blinking as an interaction medium.

Prototype #2—Lenz filter sampler

A simplified version of the prototype for you to play with.

Insights

Insight summary

1. Blink-controlled interaction usability principles
2. A potential 4th Extended Reality called AltR (Alternate Reality) created when MR tech is so advanced wearers see completely different augmentations of the same reality and yet are able to interact with each other as the different augmentations follow the same spatial dimensions and physics.
3. Potential for uber-filtering of reality resulting in the exclusion of others and enabling denial
4. Potential for wearer’s enhanced alignment with values

Insight #1—Blink-control interaction principles

Full article on Medium

Insight #2—AltR, a 4th Extended Reality

Read more on Medium

Insight #3—Potential for dark behaviours

Predictive filtering could be based on unconscious behaviours.

Hover on the image to see how predictive filters based on unconscious behaviours may foster marginalisation.

Insight #4—Potential for values-driven behaviours

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