Bionic Eye

Biomedical engineering is the fastest growing area of scientific research by making new devices. After the discovery of artificial heart, bionic arm, now the engineers has created bionic eye, an optical prosthetic that can restore sight by delivering images to the brain.

The Argus II Retinal Prosthetic System can provide sight to the people who are blind by the disease like macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. Both diseases damaged the photoreceptors of the eyes whose main function is to perceive light patterns and pass them to the brain in the form of nerve impulses, where the impulse patterns are interpreted as images.

The system works by the help of eyeglasses, which hold a camera fixed on one of the lenses that capture images and sends the information to a video processor , also located on the glasses. After the video processor converts the images to an electronic signal, a transmitter on the glasses helps to send the information to the surface of the eye. After that, information is sent in the form of electrical pulse by a tiny cable to an electrode array implanted in the retina. These pulses trigger signals in the retina that travel through the optic nerve to the brain, which perceives patterns of light and dark spots that corresponds to the electrodes stimulated.

Source:

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=bionic-eye-restores-vision-after-th-2009-03-04

Sundeep Sharma

VTPP 435