Blink is looking to make eyesight tests more comfortable. The company formed out of the MIT Media Lab has started offering on-demand tests in New York for $75, and the price per person can even go down if you get a few friends or co-workers together.

Instead of relying on expensive equipment regular optometrists would use, Blink’s tool set includes few inexpensive devices and a mobile app to do the same thing.

The price per person can even go down if you get a few friends or co-workers together.After a user books the visit, a visioneer (as they call it) visits the house, sets up a little eye chart on a wall, and asks a few basic questions you would expect on a vision test. Then, with the help of a tablet app and a view-finder device, the user takes a series of tests that measure vision.

The first piece of equipment, called the Netra, uses a smartphone for display but otherwise it’s a Google Cardboard-like device (though it looks better). The visioneer will then pair the information garnered from the tests with data gathered from the user’s ability to read the eye chart, and proceed to the next step.

Here, another device kicks in; called Netropter, it lets users try out the suggested prescription by reading the eye chart again.

Finally, all of this information is sent to partner optometrists, who analyze it and send out a prescription via email. This prescription can be used to buy a new pair of glasses, and the company is also working to include contact lens prescriptions to the mix.

[Via: TechCrunch]