• September 15, 2022
• By admin

The bionic eye- Restoring the sense of vision to the user

We live in a world full of colours and pictures that we see every day; a life without sight is dark. And blind people live their lives in the dark. It is not enough to simply assist a blind person in crossing the street; we must do more for them as human beings. We belong to the engineering community, so nothing is impossible if we try. If scientists generate ideas, it is engineers who bring those ideas to life. Now that we have all of the machines in our hands, it is our turn to return what mankind has given us.

In the current world, approximately 40 million people are blind, and approximately 140 million people have low vision, with India having the highest number of people suffering from blindness. The goal of BIONIC EYE is to restore visual signal to people suffering from eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. In this case, a video camera is combined with a pair of glasses that capture and process images. The images are wirelessly transmitted to a small processor, which converts them into electronic signals, which are then transmitted to a retinal implant or electrode, which sends the visual signal to the brain for processing. As a result, even blind people can see.

Human Vision:

When a light ray reflected from an object reaches our eye, signals are sent to the brain, which decodes the signal to optimise the appearance, location, and movement of the object we are looking at. The entire process is carried out solely by light; without light, there is no world, and we cannot see anything.

The retina is the most important part of the eye. The retina is an inside wall of the eye that acts like a camera film, capturing light signals and transmitting them to the brain via optic nerves to create vision.

Bionic Eye:

It’s an artificial eye that sends visual signals to the brain. It is made up of image sensors, microprocessors, receivers, radio transmitters, and retinal chips. This technology allows blind people to regain their vision.

It consists of a computer chip placed in the back of the affected person’s eye and linked to a mini video camera built into the glasses they wear. The image captured by the camera is then directed to the chip, which converts it into an electronic signal that the brain can understand. The images produced by the Bionic eye were not perfect, but they were clear enough to recognise. The implant goes through the retina instead of the diseased cells.

The Bionic Eye at Work:

The device is made up of 3,500 micro photodiodes that are placed at the back of the retina. These miniature solar cell arrays generate the electrical signal that is sent to the brain by converting normal light to electrical signal.

The Bionic Eye functions similarly to the human eye in that it receives images from a camera attached to the glass that a blind person can wear; the camera is small in size because it fits onto the frame of glass or, in the future, we will be able to set it into the structure of the artificial eye. The image is then transmitted to a small electronic chipset (microprocessor). The microprocessor’s job is to convert that image data into an electronic signal and then send it to the receiver. It sends signals through a very small cable to an electrode panel implanted by doctors on the back wall of the eye, also known as the retina.

Electrode panels generate pulses that travel through the optic nerve to the brain. When the optic nerve of a blind person is damaged, we use devices that are capable of bypassing the signal in all possible ways, allowing only the signal to reach the brain. As soon as the signal reaches the brain, the brain begins decoding the signal and we can identify what the subject is; this process is so fast that we can see in a manner similar to the human eye.

Bionic Eye Systems on the Market:

The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System approved by the FDA in the United States is a bionic eye system developed by a California-based company called Second Sight. Retinal Prosthesis is a biomedical implant used to help those who have lost their sight due to this disease restore some of their useful vision. According to a survey, one out of every 5,000 people has this disease. It used to send pulse signals to the brain via retinal implant for blind people. It has a mini video camera to collect data, which is wirelessly transferred to a video processing unit, which converts the data into electronic signals, which are then transferred to electrodes, which generate impulses to interpret with the brain, and a blind person can see like a normal human, but their vision is not perfect.

Bionic Eyes in the Future:

We will be able to increase the number of electrodes capable of producing sharper, coloured, and more functional vision for people who are blind from retinitis pigmentosa and other retinal diseases, such as macular degeneration, in the future.

Scientists are testing devices with more electrodes in order to bypass the retina and send signals directly to the brain. The next generation of the Argus II retinal stimulator will feature 60 controllable electrodes that will provide subjects with higher resolution images.

What It’s Like to Look Through a Bionic Eye:

The vision provided by a bionic eye differs from that of a human. It does not restore complete vision; it is not completely perfect or clear. According to a trial conducted by the manufacturing company, approximately half of the blind people were able to read very large letters that are about 9 inches high when viewed from 1 foot away or about 23 centimetres high when viewed from 0.3 metres away. A few blind people were able to read smaller letters (1-2 inches tall when viewed from 1 foot away or 2.5-5 centimetres tall when viewed from 0.3 metres away) and short words. Following the test, it was discovered that the majority of blind people benefited from the Argus II System.

The first bionic eye in the world for full vision restoration:

Researchers are working to improve their system in order to help people with incurable neurological conditions such as limb paralysis and quadriplegia live better lives. “If successful, the MVG [Monash Vision Group] team will seek to establish a new commercial enterprise focused on providing vision to people with untreatable blindness and movement to the arms of people paralysed by quadriplegia, thereby transforming their health care,” researchers write.

Researchers saw successful results in sheep with minimal side effects when it was safely implanted into their brains using a pneumatic inserter after a total of 2,00 hours of simulation. They are now preparing to take it to the next level with its first-ever human clinical trial, which will be held in Melbourne.

The researchers are now seeking funding to expedite the manufacturing and distribution processes.

Limitations:

• Finally, the cost of Bionic Eye. A pair of Eye would cost around $30,000, which is not a favourable amount for the affected person.
• This will not treat every type of eye disease affected person, such as glaucoma patients, but it will primarily help those suffering from retinitis pigmentosa.
• Creating an artificial replacement for a human body is a dangerous task because it may result in death or serious complications.
• Because it is not a human eye, but a bionic eye, an affected person will not have 100% perfect vision.