Main image via YouTube + VSP Direct
If you’re someone who wears contact lenses or have tried them before, you’ll know that putting them on and taking them out may not be the easiest thing to do.
But now, one man has come up with a solution for that problem by inventing a robot to help do the job!
via GIPHY
Craig Hershoff from Florida, USA, has developed a product that uses robotic technology that helps an individual to insert and remove contact lenses.
Named CLIARA, which stands for “Contact Lens Insertion And Removal Apparatus”; the product uses sensors and suction cups to determine the precise amount of force needed to insert and remove the lenses.
When Craig’s wife passed away, he began suffering from anxiety that caused his hands to shake when he tried to put in or take out his lenses. This drove him to begin working on a product that would help him with his problem.
Image via UNILAD
Previously, the inventor suffered from Fuch’s dystrophy – a condition that can cause blindness; and had received three corneal transplants in 10 years.
Since then, he discovered a specific type of contact lens – know as “scleral lenses”, that helped to improve his sight. He was inspired by his struggles to invent a tool that would help others with dexterity problems to deal with their own lens problems.
“What happens in a few years if I actually have a tremor and I can’t get these lenses in? I need them to see and I don’t have anyone to help put them in for me,” Craig told CNN.
via GIPHY
CLIARA is a “simple” tool that uses a voice command to activate the device, which moves up to the user’s eye and uses “very sensitive force sensors” tp detect when it has made contact with the eye.
From there, depending on if you’re putting in or taking out your contact lenses, the device will either connect with or release the lens and retract back down from the eye.
Craig also noted that there is a camera and video display attached to the device so the user is able to see exactly where the lens is being placed by the device.
via GIPHY
So far, the inventor’s product only works on scleral lenses and he’s currently waiting on FDA approval. He has however tested the product on other patients with happy results.
“We’ve tried it on a few elderly people,” Craig told WPLG Local 10. “People with disabilities involving dexterity, and they’ve all liked it and appreciated how well it works.”
We could definitely use this robot to help with our contact lenses! But we have to admit… it doesn’t look a little scary…
Do you use contact lenses? Would you give this robot a try?
Info via UNILAD