Another genre cliché becomes reality, as the imaginatively-named company Bionic Vision Australia prepares to install the first in-human deployment of a prototype eyeball implant designed to “deliver improved quality of life for patients suffering from degenerative vision loss caused by retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration” [via KurzweilAI.net]. Er, what?
The device, which is currently undergoing testing, consists of a miniature camera mounted on glasses that captures visual input, transforming it into electrical signals that directly stimulate surviving neurons in the retina. The implant will enable recipients to perceive points of light in the visual field that the brain can then reconstruct into an image.
Ah, right. Why didn’t you just say so, eh? Here’s a video:
I was amazed by the cochlear implant when my son was activated. The technology exploded in the last ~25 years, and changed the lives of thousands who are hearing disabled. The bionic eye is going to be awesome! Let’s hope the technological advances can parallel the cochlear implant.