There was something terrifyingly awesome about the way Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator character could zoom in on someone's face and identify whether they were friend or foe, asset or target.

And now you may be able to do the same thing -- sort of.

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology say they have developed a "telescopic" contact lens that has the ability to magnify an object up to 2.8 times.

"The magnified optical path incorporates a telescopic arrangement of positive and negative annular concentric reflectors to achieve 2.8x magnification on the eye, while light passing through a central clear aperture provides unmagnified vision," states the abstract from the study, published in the journal Optics Express.

The article, written by lead author Eric Tremblay and his colleagues, explains how the team mounted the contact lens on a life-sized "optomechanical" model eye by adapting the lens to fit a pair of modified 3D glasses.

They then demonstrate how the lens could switch electronically between normal and magnified vision modes, with the flick of a switch.

The lens is just over one millimetre thick, and uses a ring of optics mounted around the lens to provide magnification. In the centre of the ring is an unmagnified vision path.

Using a custom-designed liquid crystal shutter, they are then able to block one or the other of the optical paths, allowing the near-instantaneous transition from magnified to unmagnified vision, according to a report in New Scientist magazine.

There are still some bugs to work out in order to improve the clarity of the magnified image, and the team hopes to move from the current hard plastic lens to a material that allows air flow to the eyeball, which would be necessary if the lens is to actually be worn by a human test subject.

Researchers say the technology could be used to aid those with macular degeneration, where vision is lost in the central part of the retina, as a replacement to the current clunky glasses that correct the impairment.

It's unlikely, however, that they will be used any time soon to track down Skynet's enemy targets or as a theatrical device to dramatically indicate -- by the gentle fade-out of its illuminated red eye -- when a Terminator cyborg is finally out of commission.