x-pert
04-01-2010, 09:48 AM
http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/14076_large_vision_overview.png
Advances in chemistry and electronics promise to conquer many of the most serious diseases afflicting mankind. One example prime example is vision (http://www.dailytech.com/Bionic+Vision+Unveils+Advanced+Prototype+Electroni c+Eyeball/article18021.htm#) loss. Today a number of groups are racing to develop a high-definition electronic eyeball (http://www.dailytech.com/Stretchable+Electronics+Yield+First+Electronic+Eye ball/article12606.htm), or to become the first to regrow a biological eye (http://www.dailytech.com/Scientists+Grow+New+Frog+Eyes+From+Stem+Cells/article13501.htm).
One team looking to create an electronics-driven cure to blindness is Bionic Vision Australia (http://www.bionicvision.org.au/about-us/our-approach)(BVA) and its academic partner, the University of New South Wales. The pair unveiled their "first advanced prototype", the culmination of efforts financed by a $42M USD research grant from the Australian government.
The advanced prototype consists of a glasses-mounted video camera, a pocket-mounted processor, and a wireless electrode chip mounted inside the eyeball. They pocket processor is referred to as "wireless" in that it communicates wirelessly with the electrode chip, though it is wired to the video camera.
http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/14077_large_vision_resolution.png
The electrode chip contains 98 electrodes which stimulate cells on the optical (http://www.dailytech.com/Bionic+Vision+Unveils+Advanced+Prototype+Electroni c+Eyeball/article18021.htm#) nerve. Unfortunately, this means that the chip can only currently help the vision impaired with intact optical nerves. The technology could eventually complement optical nerve regeneration techniques (such as stem cell regrowth (http://www.dailytech.com/New+Stem+Cell+Therapy+Restores+Vision+in+Damaged+E ye/article17213.htm)) to help additional victims of vision loss.
Anthony Burkitt (http://www.bionicvision.org.au/about-us/the-team), BVA's research director and an engineering professor at the University of Melbourne, states in a press release (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/uom-bva033010.php), "We anticipate that this retinal implant will provide users with increased mobility and independence, and that future versions of the implant will eventually allow recipients to recognize faces and read large print."
<Read in full> (http://www.dailytech.com/Bionic+Vision+Unveils+Advanced+Prototype+Electroni c+Eyeball/article18021.htm)
Advances in chemistry and electronics promise to conquer many of the most serious diseases afflicting mankind. One example prime example is vision (http://www.dailytech.com/Bionic+Vision+Unveils+Advanced+Prototype+Electroni c+Eyeball/article18021.htm#) loss. Today a number of groups are racing to develop a high-definition electronic eyeball (http://www.dailytech.com/Stretchable+Electronics+Yield+First+Electronic+Eye ball/article12606.htm), or to become the first to regrow a biological eye (http://www.dailytech.com/Scientists+Grow+New+Frog+Eyes+From+Stem+Cells/article13501.htm).
One team looking to create an electronics-driven cure to blindness is Bionic Vision Australia (http://www.bionicvision.org.au/about-us/our-approach)(BVA) and its academic partner, the University of New South Wales. The pair unveiled their "first advanced prototype", the culmination of efforts financed by a $42M USD research grant from the Australian government.
The advanced prototype consists of a glasses-mounted video camera, a pocket-mounted processor, and a wireless electrode chip mounted inside the eyeball. They pocket processor is referred to as "wireless" in that it communicates wirelessly with the electrode chip, though it is wired to the video camera.
http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/14077_large_vision_resolution.png
The electrode chip contains 98 electrodes which stimulate cells on the optical (http://www.dailytech.com/Bionic+Vision+Unveils+Advanced+Prototype+Electroni c+Eyeball/article18021.htm#) nerve. Unfortunately, this means that the chip can only currently help the vision impaired with intact optical nerves. The technology could eventually complement optical nerve regeneration techniques (such as stem cell regrowth (http://www.dailytech.com/New+Stem+Cell+Therapy+Restores+Vision+in+Damaged+E ye/article17213.htm)) to help additional victims of vision loss.
Anthony Burkitt (http://www.bionicvision.org.au/about-us/the-team), BVA's research director and an engineering professor at the University of Melbourne, states in a press release (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/uom-bva033010.php), "We anticipate that this retinal implant will provide users with increased mobility and independence, and that future versions of the implant will eventually allow recipients to recognize faces and read large print."
<Read in full> (http://www.dailytech.com/Bionic+Vision+Unveils+Advanced+Prototype+Electroni c+Eyeball/article18021.htm)