For people that suffer with degeneration of their retnas ( like Macular Degenerationthis or Retinitis Pigmentosa) could be a new lease on sight.
The retina implant developed by IIP combines medicinal and information technology with micro-systems technology.
A blind patient has a unique microchip implanted in their eye, wears special glasses with an integrated camera and carries a microcomputer on a belt around their waist.
Visual information received by the glasses is converted into electrical pulses by the microcomputer and the pulses then used to stimulate the patient’s optic nerve. The implant helps restore limited eyesight to people affected with specific hereditary blindness.
The amazing part of this is that when the device is implanted and activated it will produce randon visual information. The user will then be given a visual reference ( a white ring on a computer screen) and told to adjust the input settings. This is done until the user sees the white ring. The trials are to last about five years and if they are successful it could mean that thousnads of people may re-gain at leat some of their sight.
I wonder that if on future models the settings could be adjusted on the fly for different conditions. Lower contrast in bright light, enhanced night vision, digital zoom. Hum, sounds like something Steve Austin would have…