- What if two countries declared cyber war on each other?
- Why big IT projects fail…and how to prevent it!
- Electronic component sourcing: evolution and strategies
- Instrumentation for Generation Y
BIONIC Vision Australia’s researchers have developed a breakthrough microchip which is bringing the bionic eye closer to human trials.
The device is five square mm in size, but is said to be a significant advance in nerve simulation technology. It 98 precisely-controlled stimulation channels to restore some sense of vision.
The microchip is at the heart of the retinal implant, which stimulates the retinal cells to elicit vision.
In March, Electronics News talked to Professor Stan Skafidas, program leader for the high-acuity device, which is the second prototypical retinal implant. That particular feature article appears in the April issue of the print magazine and will be published online in the next few weeks.
While the current microchip announcement pertains to the first prototype (the wide-view system), work is very much advanced on this prototype, which has progressed through a series of preclinical studies to test the safety and efficacy of the technology. A safe surgical technique has also been developed for implantation.
Clinicians are now screening people with retinitis pigmentosa to develop a selection protocol for the first group of patients who will participate in tests of the device. Researchers will continue working with patients in the lead up to the first implant of the full system, due by 2013.
The wide-view bionic eye consists of a camera, attached to a pair of glasses, which captures images and sends them to a body-worn processing unit. A wireless transmitter feeds the data and power from this unit to a microchip in the retinal implant.
The microchip decodes this information and drives the electrical stimulation in the retina. These signals are then passed along the optic nerve to the brain where they are interpreted as vision.
Embedded below is a video from UNSW on the Bionic Eye development.