Bionic Eye -New Visionary Connection Links Man & Machine

A British gentleman has a pair of prototype cyber-spectacles, able to detect signals he can't see and transmit them into his brain, and he uses them to sort his socks. As you might guess he isn't James Bond. He's called Ron, a seventy-three year old cyborg who can now see for the first time in thirty years.

The septuagenarian was supplied with silicon-based sensors to take up the slack from his own eyes, which failed due to retinitis pigmentosa (a hereditary disease which can cause night blindness, tunnel vision, and in some cases complete loss of sight). The glasses are fitted with a tiny computer, which encodes the information from an on board camera and transmits it to a receiver mounted on his face. The information is then sent down a tiny cable shoved right through his eyes (it's not like he was using them), firing electrodes implanted in his retinas.

This is the real key step - the connection between man and machine. The signals sent through the retina are then interpreted by the brain as normal, enabling Ron to see shades of grey for the first time since headbands were fashionable. Because it would be too tragic to have those as the last thing he ever saw

This won't be a treatment for every type of blindness, as you still need some eye left to work with. But since retinitis pigmentosa does cause increasing flaws in the retina, the method can obviously work with moderately damaged parts.

At the moment Ron can pick out patterns of spots, and even tell the difference between whites and coloreds when sorting his socks. He's hoping to someday see the moon again, and if that's not a heartbreakingly wonderful wish deserving of the very latest in technology, you've already had your heart swapped for a pump.

Don't worry though, it isn't all the happiness of old people and other mush that should be safely contained inside a Hallmark card. Right now it's about restoring sight, but the core of the process is still connecting a computerized camera right the hell into the human brain - and who says you need to look at boring visible light, or things that are actually there? As the technology progresses the interface will be improved, until anything that can be imaged can be inserted right into your visual input. Though at this point we must remind you that X-Rays can't actually see people naked.

Don't worry, having a Google Eye search function for anything you see will be far better.

Posted by Luke McKinney.

Bionic Eye http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7919645.stm