Easily something out of a sci-fi novel, Mitsui Chemical’s TouchFocus spectacles have lenses made from a liquid crystal that can alter shape at will, going from one pre-determined form to another. How does TouchFocus use this incredibly innovative technology? To allow regular spectacles to instantly, at will, turn into bifocals.
The extremely advanced technology allows you to, with a single touch on a button/logo located at the temple, turn on or off the bifocals feature. When switched on, the lenses alter in shape in a matter of seconds, turning regular powered glasses into dual-powered glasses, or bi-focals, allowing you to account for far as well as near-sightedness. Press the button again and the secondary lenses disappear, giving you your primary-powered lenses again.
This technology is especially remarkable simply because of how incredibly accurate the crystal’s shape memory is required to be. Any distortion would result in spectacles that aren’t any good because the lenses are warped, but the TouchFocus manages to carry out the transformation (over and over again) with sheer accuracy. This is especially helpful for people with near and farsightedness. The bifocals replaced the need to switch between regular and reading glasses, but they too have a caveat. Simple tasks like tying your shoelaces or walking down the stairs become challenging because the lenses meant for reading can’t focus on objects that are further than a couple of inches away. TouchFocus lets you toggle between these modes, allowing you to switch on the reading glasses mode only when necessary.
This marvelous technology is housed in a design that’s worth appreciating. Designed appropriately for its target audience, the elderly, the TouchFocus are stylish but not necessarily techy. They look like any other pair of premium eyewear, concealing the technology well, to make the glasses look just like any other pair of glasses. Moreover, the glasses also retain a sleek design and don’t necessarily look bulky, even though they house within them some pretty groundbreaking tech!
The TouchFocus is a winner of the Good Design Award for the year 2018.
Designer: Mitsui Chemical
