AI Enhanced Lenses

Help! The robots are taking over!

Well, not quite, but they ARE assisting in many high-precision fields, so it was only inevitable that the field of Optics would turn to AI as well. But what does it mean to have a lens produced by AI? Let’s take a look by reviewing 3 things:

  1. The inherent complications of designing a lens
  2. How “Digital Surfacing” changed everything, and then finally…
  3. How AI is now refining the process

But first: WHO IS THIS FOR?

The added cost and the increased optics are for those looking to achieve the absolute maximum visual experience possible for their prescription or who have had difficulties with previous lens adaptation. Sometimes it’s because of a complicated prescription, but not always.

1. Inherent Complications in Lens Design. It’s all about Curves!

The idea was simple…
When light goes through a curved surface (like a lens), the light bends. Wonderful! Now we can use these curved lenses to redirect light entering our eyes so they are better focused on our retina. Tada!

The problem:
That “perfect curve” only works when your eyes are in perfect formation and alignment and don’t ever change or move. Not very practical! 🙁

The Reality:
Your eyes don’t play nicely. Instead of sitting nice and still behind your glasses, they’re constantly moving and recalibrating in ways that interfere with the lens’ ability to focus light properly for you. Some variables include:

  • Eye movement, including internal rotation in the socket
  • Change in pupil size for different tasks and lighting
  • Angle of upward or downward gaze
  • Eye convergence (eyes coming together when looking at close objects)
  • The distance of the frame and wraparound angle
  • Changing distance from the eye to the lens surface as you look around
  • … and on and on

Conclusion:
Older generation lenses with “simpler curves” get the job done quite nicely, but clarity is lost wherever those curves don’t perfectly match up to what the eye is doing.

2. The Solution: “DIGITAL” lenses!

A Bug’s Eye Approach
A “digital” lens is a lens that places “micro-curves” all over the lens (almost like how a bug’s eye may appear). Instead of one large smooth curve, you create micro curves for refined light bending. This was known for a long time, but there wasn’t a way to actually grind those micro-variations onto the lens surfaces until digital tech could catch up to theory (hence the name “Digital” lenses).

Better Tech Has Arrived!
With the advent of CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines and higher computer processing powers, machines are now able to grind the lenses with nanoscopic details all over the lens, refining the angle of bent light “just so” to provide better clarity, less distortion, and a relaxed gaze at that particular eye position.

Great, so problem solved! Why the need for AI?

3. Refinement and Adaptation through AI

AIs are a great tool for solving problems because they can mimic some of our problem solving approaches, like pouring over given data (just like we do) and considering how pertinent variables are related (just like we do) and then they look for patterns and statistically relevant information and re-feed it back into the data to update the analysis (just like we do)… except they do it FAST. And not only fast, they can do it while “holding in their head” many MANY more variables and points of data.

So they take their proprietarily coded AI and pointed it at a lens and say:
GO! Produce the calculations for this patient’s lenses and please incorporate nanoscopic corrections needed for the digital grinding process WHILE considering the following!:

  • Specific measurements from the patient and how they relate to the average
  • The age of this patient, and therefore their typical pupil size
  • The types of devices increasingly used by the age group, and convergence demands required
  • Typical posture of the age group
  • The depths of field for various tasks done
  • Eye rotations
  • … and THEN reincorporate newly received data and results back into it all, and refine your own algorithm further.

The Result?
You now have an evolving lens designing algorithm that produces lenses that have just as many nanoscopic corrections as another digitally surfaced lens, but now those corrections are updated for general modern uses as well as your personal physiology based on millions of data points that we humans could never have the time to pour over ourselves.

BOTTOM LINE:

  • Clarity
  • Comfort
  • Ease of use and initial adaptation
  • Decreased peripheral distortions
  • Better vision at various focal distances
  • Reduced Eye Fatigue

See more at https://shamir.com/ca/lenses_and_more/shamir-autograph-intelligence