005 Flat Lenses

Today's lenses are made of solid glass. This makes bigger lenses heavy and bulky. While fresnel lenses have managed to make lenses flatter by splitting them up in concentric circles of lens segments, they have always had some level of quality loss which makes them not ideal to use in photographic applications. Microsoft has now patented a flat lens that uses tiny nano structures on a flat surface to bend light similar to what a traditional lens does. For the future of photography this could mean smaller lenses and thinner smartphones without a camera bump. Don't forget, our robot still has no name and you could choose it and win a t-shirt! Make as many suggestions as you like here by 24th December.