NETRA

Here's a system that shows a lot of promise for the third world, or even very rural areas in the developed world. Called NETRA--Near-eye tool for refractive assessment--it fits over a smartphone and runs a quick test on the strength of the user's eyes.

The idea is that with today's sophisticated mobile devices, users should be able to get an accurate test of their eyes and then use that information to order glasses online. In the third world, someone could go village to village testing people's eyes, go to a place where glasses are available, and then bring them back to the villages. As with many Media Lab innovations, the idea is to slash the cost and complexity of many things that impact people's lives.

Click here to read the related story on the MIT Media Lab, and click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

July 23, 2010 4:00 AM PDT

Photo by: Daniel Terdiman/CNET

| Caption by: Daniel Terdiman