Designed Bionic Eye Recognizes Faces

Johns Hopkins University developed a bionic eye that recognizes faces and could help blind users to see. A computer chip that is in the back of the eye is linked to a mini video camera built into the eyeglasses of the user.

BBC News reports that the bionic eye has been designed by Professor Gislin Dagnelie at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. With the device, blind people would ultimately be able to recognize faces just by “looking” at them. The images captured by the camera are beamed to the chip, which translates them into impulses that the brain can interpret.

The device can help patients with the most common cause of blindness, macular degeneration, which affects 10 million people in the US, according to the American Macular Degeneration Foundation.

Macular degeneration is caused by the deterioration of the central portion of the retina, the inside back layer of the eye that records the images we see and sends them via the optic nerve from the eye to the brain. The retina’s central portion, known as the macula, is responsible for focusing central vision in the eye, and it controls our ability to read, drive a car, recognize faces or colors, and see objects in fine detail.

“Although the images produced by the artificial eye were far from perfect, they could be clear enough to allow someone who is otherwise blind to recognize faces,” Professor Dagnelie said. “The retinal implant contains tiny electrodes. If you stimulate a single electrode, the person will see a single dot of light.” They have already tested implants containing a handful of electrodes, but the end device will contain 50-100 to give a better overall picture.

“We are hoping this will be enough for the person to be able to make their way through a building, find a door or window and avoid obstacles, for example. To us, the images look very basic but for someone who was previously blind they are a massive step forward.” But he added, “There is still quite a bit of work that will be needed to fine tune it. Being able to see faces will be quite a bit down the line.”

Anita Lifestone of the RNIB, said: “This is a revolutionary piece of technology and really has the potential to change people’s lives. But we need to be aware it is still some way in the future.”

Source: BBC News