XPANCEO to develop first laboratory optic testing system to accelerate smart contact lens production worldwide

XPANCEO has announced a successful proof of concept for the world’s first augmented reality holographic lens testing system, marking an essential step towards progressing from Apple Vision Pro to the next generation of computing – XR smart contact lenses. The system allows for the reproduction of AR experiences in various situations such as sports, gaming, navigation, enabling safe immediate tests without the necessity of trials on humans. Moreover, the company assessed the production cost for this setup, which will be approximately just $100,000.

According to Dr. Valentyn S. Volkov, XPANCEO’s co-founder and scientist with an h-Index of 38 and over 8000 citations in leading international publications, “The primary focus for us during this year will be the production of new prototypes and enhancing the current ones, so such optic testing system is a pivotal step towards the first all-in-one XR smart contact lenses. This system will allow XR industry players to evaluate every necessary parameter, which will speed up the development process and may lead to growth in the smart lenses market.”

The startup has the proof of concept ready for implementation, with an estimated 8 months development period for the device. Currently, there is only one device on the market with relatively similar functionality to test AR and VR glasses. This device can only test 30% of the necessary parameters and costs approximately $300,000. Testing all these parameters is essential before declaring that the product meets all the requirements and is ready for clinical trials and market launch. XPANCEO’s testing device fully meets the requirements to test all essential parameters. This installation is crucial for objectively evaluating lens prototypes and understanding the quality of the reproduced image, marking a significant advancement in research for the whole industry.

This setup will be able to evaluate the following key parameters for testing holographic smart contact lenses:

• Field of View. The XR smart contact lens is the only gadget designed to allow users to see images from any angle, so precise measurements are needed to ensure the gradual increase of this parameter.

• The brightness of virtual images. Typically, brightness is easily quantified for traditional light bulbs. However, with virtual images, it is a subjective experience that cannot be objectively assessed without a precise testing system. This is crucial as there are strict medical guidelines regarding image brightness to ensure it does not harm the human eye. Therefore, an accurate assessment of this parameter is essential.

• Contrast , representing how brightly an image stands out from the background. This metric is crucial for comfortable and safe viewing and should remain stable regardless of the brightness of the surrounding environment and the image itself.

• Changes in image contrast vary with different weather conditions. The surrounding environment can have varying levels of brightness, for example, on a cloudy or sunny day, so it's important for the brightness to be adaptive, as is the case of phone screens. However, it should not be excessive to ensure that the virtual image does not blind the user if they happen to look directly at the sun.

• The gradient of intensity across the field. Virtual images exhibit varying brightness due to optical reasons that cause the edges to be always less bright than the center. However, this effect is accentuated as the image is projected at an angle, resulting in some parts appearing less distinct. Precise measurement of this parameter will help to correct it when the image is recorded for projection.

• Line sharpness, representing how clear the user can see the image, particularly, thin lines.

• The micro projector’s permissible angle of inclination. The projector is positioned at an angle, but it’s impossible to fix it fully accurately. Therefore, for comfortable use, it is crucial to create an image that remains bright even with some margin of error, which is important to measure. Otherwise, there is a risk that the image may disappear completely when it’s placed in the wrong part of the field of view or simply when it’s not bright enough to be visible.