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On the Way to Artificial Eyes
(Friday December 11 2009)
 | The early foundations of artificial eyes are advancing, step by step: "Retinal implants are arrays of electrodes, placed at the back of the eye, which partially restore vision to people with diseases that cause their light-sensing photoreceptors to die. Typically, a camera embedded in glasses collects visual information and sends it to a computer that converts the images to electrical signals, which are then transmitted to the implant and interpreted by the brain. ... most people with implants can only make out fuzzy borders between light and dark areas. ... The Stanford implant would allow patients to make out the shape of objects and see meaningful images [and] has approximately 1,000 electrodes, compared to 60 electrodes commonly found in fully implantable systems. ... [it is] a silicon implant with tiny bridges that allow it to fold over the shape of the eye. ... The advantage of having it flexible is that relatively large implants can be placed under the retina without being deformed, and the whole image would stay in focus." |
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