Stanford University researchers have invented
goggles that can send information to chips, which behave like solar cells, implanted into eye retinas. These new retinal implants would require far less invasive surgeries than the
very limited options that are currently available. The “
bionic eye” could help completely blind people see once again.
According to James Loudin, an electrical engineering professor at Stanford who took part in the study, the development of the specialized goggles and retinal implants took many years and involved technologies from four different academic departments. The system starts with the goggles, which have a miniature camera embedded in the nosepiece. Images from the camera are sent to a portable computer that is no larger than a smartphone. In turn the computer generates the video images that are transmitted into the eyes via infrared lasers inside the goggles’ lenses. The lasers then are reflected onto tiny photovoltaic chips embedded under the retinas. Biology then takes over from there as the retinas convert the light into an electrical current and send messages to the brain and allows the patient to see.
Read my full article on Inhabitat.
About The Author
Leon Kaye
Leon Kaye is the founder and editor of GreenGoPost.com and its advisory division,
GGP Media.
Contact him to discuss how he can work with your organization or event.
His focus is making the business case for sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR).
He writes for San Francisco-based
Triple Pundit,
Inhabitat and now
The Guardian, for which he writes about corporate responsibility, water, and green building. He has also written for AIA's
Architect Magazine.
Leon works out of Fresno and Silicon Valley, California, and when he has free time, he enjoys hiking, gardening, cooking, weightlifting, and planning his next trip to one of the 60 countries he has visited. He has an MBA from USC's Marshall School of Business and is also a proud graduate of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) and Cal State-Fresno.
Stanford University researchers have invented goggles that can send information to chips, which behave like solar cells, implanted into eye retinas. These new retinal implants would require far less invasive surgeries than the very limited options that are currently available. The “bionic eye” could help completely blind people see once again.
According to James Loudin, an electrical engineering professor at Stanford who took part in the study, the development of the specialized goggles and retinal implants took many years and involved technologies from four different academic departments. The system starts with the goggles, which have a miniature camera embedded in the nosepiece. Images from the camera are sent to a portable computer that is no larger than a smartphone. In turn the computer generates the video images that are transmitted into the eyes via infrared lasers inside the goggles’ lenses. The lasers then are reflected onto tiny photovoltaic chips embedded under the retinas. Biology then takes over from there as the retinas convert the light into an electrical current and send messages to the brain and allows the patient to see.
Read my full article on Inhabitat.
