With the principals of the firm now with LensAR Inc, a small firm also in Orlando FL and still engaged in Eye surgery business, the Autonomous Technologies began operations in the late eighties as a small SBIR-involved R&D company developing laser radar (LADAR) for space-borne tracking applications with the support of NASA and what at the time was known as SDIO - Strategic Defense Inititiative (Star Wars), then BMDO - Ballistic Missile Defense Organization - now MDA (Missile Defense Agency). Principals of the firm radically shifted the use of that technology to medical application, specifically to the development of equipment for photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) laser surgery in which a weak laser beam is used to remove tiny layers of tissue and sculpts the cornea to improve sight. First-generation systems for PRK surgery required that patients' eyes remain still, but the Autonomous LADARVision system enabled the tracking a patient's slightest involuntary eye movement. Now operational at over 400 sites worldwide, Autonomous Technologies SBIR work enabled upgrade of the entire LASIK industry to eye tracking, flying spot shaping, and customized surgery. The company established a partnership with CIBA Vision, a subsidiary of Swiss drug maker Novartis, to commercialize its technolog and in May 1999, Autonomous Technologies was acquired by Summit Technology. In late 2000, the largest company in ophthalmology, Alcon Inc, acquired Summit Autonomous for $950 million. The original founder of the firm has gone on to establish and grow another eye surger realted company - Lensar - employing Augmented Reality technology to provide a 3-D view of the entire anterior segment during cataract surgery.
