Transformer lens for smartphones
The National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec) yesterday announced its development of the TWI-VIS ("twice vision") lens, which can turn smartphones and tablets into mobile microscopes.
Nectec director Sarun Sumriddetchkajorn said the TWI-VIS lens had two magnifications (50 and 100 times) in a single piece.
The lens, produced from polymers, can be attached to a smartphone’s or tablet’s camera with surface tension. Its dimensions are about 3 by 5 millimetres. Nectec has registered a patient for its TWI-VIS lens.
The lens can be used in various areas included education, science, agriculture, and medical purposes such as blood tests.
Sarun said Nectec aimed to be able to produce 50,000 lenses per month by mid-2015. To that end, it is soliciting funding contributions at www.indiegogo.com/projects/dual-microscope-lens-for-mobile-devices-twi-vis.
“Currently we can manually produce the lens at a low capacity. We aim to increase that to mass production by machines. We chose to raise money through the crowd-funding model, with the goal set at US$5,000 [Bt164,000]. The funds will be used to produce a prototype machine for manufacturing the TWI-VIS lens on a mass scale,” he said.
He added that apart from the first version of the completed product with 50x and 100x magnification that can be used as the microscope, the centre had also developed a 25/50x TWI-VIS lens for use as a magnifying glass.
“The TWI-VIS lens is aimed at making mobile microscopes widely used in daily life and opening opportunities for further applications. The lens allows a smartphone or tablet to become a mobile microscope that can photograph and record tiny objects.”
