2011-01-07

emPower PixelOptics Electronic Glasses

Electronic spectacles coming to market soon


(PhysOrg.com) -- US company PixelOptics has invented electronic spectacles that can automatically change focus as you lower your head to read a book, and could spell the end of the bifocal.

The product, called emPower!™, has been under development for 10 years and looks like an ordinary pair of spectacles. It will be available in a wide range of frames and colors. The only visible difference is a small button on the side, which is used to select one of three operating modes.

emPower! Product and how it works


PixelOptics is inventing and commercializing the first dynamic electronic spectacle lens, emPower!™  If you wear bifocals or progressive lenses, this technology will revolutionize the way you see and use your eyeglasses. emPower!™ will:

• Focus as fast as you can blink your eye
• Provide an invisible electronic near focus zone when desired
• Offer three modes of operation: automatic, manual on, manual off
• Provide wider fields of view compared to a progressive addition lens
• Allow for less distortion than a progressive addition lens
• Vision correction for all ranges of sight: far, near, and in between
• Allow you to turn near reading power off when desired
• Rechargeable hidden battery



PixelOptics CEO Ron Blum describes electronic eyewear -- How it works, when it will be available and why it's better for many people from athletes to the elderly.





An emPower! battery charge will last around 30 hours. The glasses will come with a nightstand induction recharger, like the one on your electronic toothbrush.

Not surprisingly, emPower! glasses ain't cheap. A complete pair will run $1,200 at the low end, the price dependent on, as with all glasses, the frame. emPower! glasses will be available at a limited number of eyeglass retailers in the southeastern U.S. starting in April. Availability throughout the country and the world will expand over time.