I know there have been things kind of like this before, but this is ultra cool:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4411591.stm

The only thing is, I wonder if the sight that is gained from this device is anything like what we see. I mean, maybe it will look just like a video to them, but maybe it's something totally abstract to us. If we asked them to describe what a pencil looked like to us, in full detail, they'd be like "Ummm.. it's a pencil." When in fact, it might look like some psychidelic thing or something. Anyway, whaddya think of this? Cool, no?

Neat stuff. It would be awesome if they prefect this.

I'm made of metal
My circuits gleam
I am perpetual, I keep the country clean.

I'm elected electric spy
I'm protected electric eye.

Weeee

Wonder how long until the eyes will be self-contained? Right now they say the cameras are in a pair of glasses.

I've thought about this before, but rather than shapes. More of colors. Like, to different people what if Green was Blue, but since you've grown up your whole life looking at these backward colors it wouldn't make a difference. Kinda hard to describe colors.

well that would be what color blind people have to face... more or less. For example, I show you two colors. I say, "This one's blue. This one's red." To you they both look brown. You say, "These look the same color. They both look like this other color here." (and this time you point to something brown. I can therefore conclude that to you, blue and red both look brown. Where it get's tricky is if you see red as blue and blue as red or soemthing... Then if I told you something was blue that you saw as red, you would just assume that red was blue. meh.

I think my brain's gonna melt now.

You guys are way overestimating the quality of this. The image will be comprised of 50 to 100 dots. In other words, at best, a 10x10 pixel image.

For example, here is a picture of my ugly mug:


...of course, after its been converted to black and white, 10x10 pixels, then back again.


While its definitely better than being blind, its nowhere near the quality of normal human vision...

you look like a snake with long hair riding a scooter.

gbk, run a HUUUGE gaussian blur on that, and I think that's more what it will look like...

How exactly does that allow them to recognize anything?


Maybe, maybe not. He just blew up a 10x10 image. Although I'm not sure how the human mind would process that enlargement directly.

meh... better than nothing I guess. *shrug*

I have a hard time believing that the brain will "see" 100 huge pixels, perfectly square in shape. I mean, all they're doing is jolting the brain with juice, basically.. you'd think the light would be a little more smooth or something.

People, people, it's BETA

I'd love to see some "Ghost in the Shell"-esque cybernetic implants, especially eyes. Perfect vision, zoom capabilities, night vision, etc. Oh yeah, I'd get a pair even if I wasn't blind!

Getting closer!

Don't forget that, as pointed out, your brain probably blends them fairly nicely and smooths it out, AND that it's in full motion (right? unless I read wrong or missed something). If you saw a smoothed black and white 10x10 image of something moving and rotating and stuff, it'd be more recognizable. Lighting changes and all that, revealing shape.

Plus, compared to the alternative, namely, a 1x1 image with only one color, it's pretty attractive, no?

The way it was described to me, it'd be like punching pin-holes through a piece of paper while holding it in front of a light. Not that great of quality, but it was interesting to see the guy interact with objects.

while this holds promise, it may be more practical to find a way to regenerate damaged eye tissue, probably with stem cells.

I think everyone is bringing up the wrong problem here. The main thing that will make this device not work is to think of how many blind people have the kind of money to buy one of those. Those things will not be cheap when they come out.

What new technology is? The important thing is for the developers to show that it has promise. Then companies will improve upon it (or pay whoever is doing this currently to do so) in price and performance. Basically, we'll have a Henry Ford of bionic eyes. Make it better and more affordable through mass production.

Sorry for the double post everyone, but I don't feel like editing I agree completely. I still think we should continue to develop the bionic eye though. Like Sinister said, we can improve on perfect (human) vision.

Not to mention that stem cells don't help the blind people that have like, no eyes. You know the kind that have just the white part, no iris, no pupil, etc.

saw a bit about this on Daily Planet or some show like it.

it's pretty neat, the guy that they were showcasing had the operation and is even driving with the implant, he couldn't see for a long time and he's driving now (well, in a closed off parking lot with a course of cones and things... he still managed to navigate the course and not hit anything)

he can make out basic shapes and stuff, but it's difficult to judge height and distance, he gave and example of tree's, he knows that it's a tree, he can see the basic shape and see the branches, but as the tree gets higher up, the shapes kinda fo blend together or something and he can't acuratly judge how tall the tree is.

the guy was on vacations in cities that he only was able to walk around and assume the feel of the city, for the first time he can actually see the landmarks and he actually knows he walking through a park rather then assuming he is.

really neat stuff, the implant only works on people that have become blind tho, and after the ange of around 7, when the visual cortex or soemthing has fully developed, if your born blind this won't help... yet.

GBK's on the right track...




Click me for more details

Yes, that's what it looks like digitally, on the chip. I highly doubt that's what people "see" for the end image.

Remember, too, that this is the first of these bionic eyes. With more time for technology to advance, the image will get a lot clearer.

Although the vision isn't exactly clear, it is still a scientific breakthrough. Within a few years, I'm sure the technology will improve and thus, the vision will also improve.

Sarn_Cadrill : I have always thought of that.. what if the sky is green through someone elses eyes, yet they call it "BLUE" cause that's the word they were taught to associate it with.. I guess we'll never know.

It may look like that now... but that;s all the better computers were about 15 years ago... give them a few years and they'll have it in color and 800x600 pixels

People who are color blind or color weak have to deal with that problem all the time.

I plan to be almost completely bionic someday and live forever!

It is become more of a reality, this is certainly good news.

The question is, where about in the "eye" will those 100 pixels show up. This may not look like much, but 10x10 vision is better than 0x0 vision...

This has nothing to do with the eye, really. From what I understand they bypass the eye altogether and stimulate the optic nerve in such a way to produce the sensation of light.

that is ****ing awesome.

This presents all kind of problems. When people try to overclock their eyes, where will the heatsinks go?