A bionic eye device, called ElectroChemical EYE (EC-EYE), was built by the US and Hong Kong researchers to help millions of people see again. It has various of tiny sensors that mirror photoreceptor cells just like real eyes. It all sits on an aluminum and tungsten membrane that is shaped like a half-sphere and a prototype with at least 100 pixels can see different letters. This device can also be used to provide vision for robots.
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Researchers develop bionic eye called ElectroChemical EYE as sensitive as a human retina
This bionic eye device, or the EC-EYE which is short for "ElectroChemical EYE," is as sensitive as a human retina, and researchers say that it will be available in just five years.
According to Engineer Zhiyong Fan of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and author of the paper, as told by Daily Mail, "Our 'biomimetic' eye has a size comparable to a human eye - a bit more than two cm in diameter. It can be used for the visual prosthesis to help the blind or those visually impaired. It can lead to a bionic eye. The unique design has the potential to provide even better resolution vision than human eyes. This will be realized by increasing the density of the device's nano-sensors to more than ten times that of photoreceptors in real human eyes."
Animal and clinical trials are already being planned and Fan hopes to further improve the device with regards to bio-compatibility, performance, and stability. Perhaps in five years, this particular technology will become very practical.
It can also be used for robots
Hopefully, in the future, the device can be used in humanoid robots. Fan also stated that for robotic applications, it is very much straight forward. They can spend a few more years to improve the response stability and speed for it to work on robots.
"Honestly, I have complicated emotions about this matter. Research on artificial intelligence (AI) is making fast progress. Smart AI in conjunction with sophisticated electronic and mechanical design can lead to super-robots that have overwhelming power. On one hand, the idea of building a new and powerful species is tantalizing. On the other hand, I do worry one day, AI and robots will gain self-consciousness and become our opponents." Fan said.
The human eyes have a very wide field of view, highly sensitive, and have an excellent resolution to light. This is all thanks to the dome-shaped retina and a bunch of photoreceptor cells. Recreating these eyes that mimic these traits is highly acknowledged in the field of robotics.
Hongrui Jiang, and optical engineer in the University of Wisconson has said that the EC-EYE is one of the many breakthroughs made in robotics. The study was published in the Nature journal.