Scientists create squishy robotic 'eye' that focuses automatically
livescience.com
livescience.com
NewsArticle: "Light-Powered Soft Lens from Georgia Tech Researchers Brings Human-Like Vision to Robotics" (2025) https://bme.gatech.edu/news/light-powered-soft-lens-georgia-... :
> The photoresponsive hydrogel soft lens (PHySL) is constructed entirely from soft, bio-safe materials, making it ideal for applications where rigid optics are impractical—such as soft robots and medical devices that interact safely with tissues. At the core of the design is a thermally responsive hydrogel—a water-absorbing polymer commonly found in products like contact lenses—infused with graphene, which converts light into heat, triggering shape changes that act as artificial muscles. This property allows the lens to be controlled remotely without needing battery power or wired connections.
> Accomodating IOLs that resist UV damage better than natural tissue: Ocumetics
Ocumetics is developing an accomodating IOL: https://ocumetics.com/#bionic :
> Ocumetics Lens technologies have been designed to create an accommodating intraocular lens, which fits within the lens capsule and eliminates the need for corrective lenses, using the natural kinetics in the eye ciliary muscles and zonules. The proprietary design has been created to be used as a replaceable device that serves secondarily as a docking station for customized optics and evolving nanotechnologies.
> Its basic framework consists of two components that are designed to engage and interact within the confines of the eye’s natural lens space to establish a dynamic and particularly sensitive connection between eye muscle action and curvature change. This connection can be adapted for virtually any eye, regardless of the lens prescription.