Eyedaptic
Living with Retinal Diseases Simplified

Two former colleagues, Jay E Cormier and Dave Watola, wished to aid people with retinal disease like dry AMD (age-related macular degeneration) to live a near-normal life. Coming from a tech background, they set out to understand the retinal and vision medical conditions and found partners in ophthalmologists and retina specialists Dr. Mitul Mehta and Dr. Brian Kim. After years of trials on their patients, Cormier and Watola developed a one-of-a-kind augmented reality glasses powered EYE2that optimized the user’s field of vision. However, when their product was about to hit the market, the pandemic began. The company founded by them, Eyedaptic, had made a buzz by then, and the pandemic allowed them to enhance their product further, making it lighter and introducing better features.

Today, Eyedaptic’s smart eyewear has become a viable and potent replacement for traditional tools like magnifying glass or desktop magnification systems. The EYE3 and EYE4, successors of the EYE2, overcame the challenge of these tools because of their lightweight design and technology-enabled feature set. “The pair of glasses covers a wide range of use cases like reading the prescription on a pill bottle, playing scrabble with grandchildren or even changing the oil in the car,” says Cormier, President, and CEO, Eyedaptic.

The camera in the eyewear takes an image, and the proprietary software processes and redisplays the image to the wearer. Additional capabilities are built within these products, like auto-zoom, image stabilization, and contrast enhancement.

Thanks to the patented simulated natural vision software, the eyewear optimizes the wearer’s peripheral vision to make it more like central vision. This makes the eyewear adaptive per user and enables users to control and enhance their vision. The autonomous algorithm helps the glasses adapt to the patient’s visual deficits and their habits and environment. It is important to note that the eyewear is not magic glasses that increase central vision but optimizes the remaining peripheral vision.

But that doesn’t stop it from changing lives and how people with AMD and similar diseases live their lives. Usability of vision-enhancing products has always been an issue. Their complex design and weight posed a challenge in wide adoption. However, Eyedaptic always had patients trying out their product, and hence, the user interface and design evolved to be simpler, easier to use, powered by completely autonomous functionality. The eyewear monitors the wearer’s usage patterns and the captured image they are looking at. The glasses can identify a text if it senses that the wearer has focused on a particular object. And when the user starts to move again, they see using their normal peripheral vision. Further, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning algorithms help further improve the functionality and accuracy of the device.

For the company, it is not only about making people independent through their vision but also about helping them lead a fuller life. Whether enabling an ex-computer programmer to get back to the computer again or a paralympic triathlete to watch her kids’ soccer games, Eyedaptic addresses the daily challenges of people suffering from retinal disease. The zeal to take advantage of the massive opportunity in the field of vision problems has made Eyedaptic partner with optometrists to help reach their customers living with retinal disease.