14 DAY TRIAL // We've seen many sorts of prosthetics and replacement body parts, as well as implants, but the latest invention from Dr. Hirotaka Osawa, from Tsukuba University in Japan, might put all of them to shame.
Well, maybe not, since the potential health benefits don't really compare. Or perhaps we should say that they don't overlap at all.
After all, the AgencyGlass eyes, the invention of Dr. Osawa, aren't meant to fix your eyesight, or even make you look especially glamorous.
In fact, we could see would-be bullies picking on whoever is wearing them, not that such people need a reason to be insufferable.
But we digress. What is the AgencyGlass, you may ask? The short version is “a pair of wearable eyes,” but that doesn't exactly explain much.
After all, there are plenty of toy “glasses” with eyes painted on them, and there is little chance that a doctor of Osawa's caliber would bother making a pair himself.
Well, maybe he would if he had a hobby like that, but it wouldn't earn him media coverage. The AgencyGlass is more than a pair of painted glasses.
All because the eyes actually move. The set of eyewear, if they can even be called that, have a second set of eyes instead of lenses.
The product is a type of smartglasses. The eyes stay open all the time, look up when you tilt your head down, and blink when you nod or shake your head.
They are meant to relay emotions, and can figure out when someone is looking at you, at which point they look up. An integrated camera is used for the facial recognition.
Osawa says that the glasses are meant to make you look more friendly and/or less socially awkward. It's too bad that they look bizarre enough that they could very well have the opposite effect.
Then again, some people like those suffering from autism, or other conditions that affect social skills, might actually gain some benefits.
Fortunately, Osawa is well aware that his wearable eyes look crazy. He's going further with his research into cybernetically displayed emotions though. Maybe in the future, he'll create an eye set or headset that doesn't give such a bizarre appearance to people.
His next project is a smile that turns your frowns upside down. It sounds more like misleading people than displaying real emotion, but it's not like Osawa is trying to be straightforward or serious here. Who knows, his ideas might become a hit at parties.
