Augmented reality glasses could soon help return sight to legally blind people

Although this will no doubt change over time as the technology becomes more mature, right now augmented reality (AR) is mainly being used for retail apps and games. Now, we may love shopping and gaming as much as the next person, but a technology as genuinely transformative as AR surely has a few more profoundly life-changing applications hiding up its sleeve. Helping people who are legally blind or have otherwise impaired vision to see again. The project is the work of computer vision scientist Philip Torr and neuroscientist Stephen Hicks, both of whom work at the United Kingdom's University of Oxford. For the past several years, they've been developing smart AR glasses, which pick up on visual weaknesses in a person's eyesight and enhance these details -- allowing individuals to navigate independently, avoid collisions, or see better in dark or low-light conditions.