BIONIC EYE

Author 1: Author 2 :

K.Dinakar P.Jagadish Babu

(2nd B.Tech,ECE) (2nd B.Tech,ECE)

dinakar.zt@gmail.com jaggu.strome@gmail.com

ADITYA ENGINEERING COLLEGE, SURAMPALEM

ABSTRACT

Technology has created many Chips-designed specifically to imitate

pathways for the mankind. Now the characteristics of the retina, and the

technology has been improved to that cones and rods of the organ of sight are

extent in the entire human body can be implanted with a microsurgery.

controlled using a single electronic Whether it is Bio medical, Computer,

chip. Previously prosthetics helped to Electrical, Electronic or Mechanical

overcome handicaps. Bio medical Engineers – all of them have a role to

engineers play a vital role in shaping play in the personification of Bionic

the course of this prosthetics. Now Eyes. This multidisciplinary nature of

technology is developed to introduce the ‘new technology’ has inspired me

bionics for artificial vision. to present this paper. There is a hope

for the sight of the blind in the form of
Bionic Eyes. This technology can add
life for their vision.
 INTRODUCTION Eyes. Sooner or later, this shall create a
revolution in the field of medicine.
“There is no better way to thank God
It is important to know few facts
for our sight than lending a helping
about the organ of sight i.e., the Eye
hand to those in dark.”
before we proceed towards the
There is no replacement for human
technicalities involved.
sight. It is simply incomparable
because of its capacity to see. Our life
is full of pictures we daily see. Life HOW ARE WE ABLE TO
without sight is dark. And blind people SEE?
lead dark lives. As capable human
Having seen the anatomical part of
beings, we need to do something more
human eye, let’s try to know as to how
than just helping a blind person cross
we are able to see – how is an image
the road.
being formed? For vision to occur, 2
Belonging to the community of
conditions need to be met:
engineers – there is no frontier that we
cannot conquer. If scientists give birth 1. An image must be formed on the
to ideas, then it is we engineers who retina to stimulate its receptors (rods
put life into those ideas. Today, we and cones).
have every tool in our hand. The ball is
2. Resulting nerve impulses must be
in our court! It is our turn now, to
conducted to the visual areas of the
return what mankind has given us.
cerebral cortex for interpretation.
What about bestowing sight for the
blind? There is no magic wand to do Four processes focus light rays, so that
this in a jiffy. But yes! We certainly they form a clear image on the retina
know the magic route to reach our
1. Refraction of light rays
goal: Science and Technology.
Today, we talk of artificial 2. Accommodation of the lens
intelligence that has created waves of
3. Constriction of the pupil
interest in the field of robotics. When
this has been possible, why not 4. Convergence of the eyes
artificial vision? It is with this dream
that I present this paper on Bionic
HOW IS VISION IMPAIRED? with multiple sclerosis, can cause loss
of only the center of the visual field – a
Damage or degeneration of the
condition called scotoma.
optic nerve, the brain, or any part of
the visual pathway between them, can A stroke can cause vision

impair vision. For example, the impairment when the resulting tissue

pressure associated with glaucoma can damage occurs in one of the regions of

also damage the optic nerve. Diabetes, the brain that process visual

already cited as a cause of retina information. For example, damage to

damage, can also cause degeneration an area that process information about

of the optic nerve. colors may result in a rare condition

called acquired cortical color
Damage to the visual pathway does not
blindness. This condition is
always result in total loss of sight.
characterized by difficulty in
Depending on where damage occurs,
distinguishing any color – not just one
only a part of the visual field may be
or two colors as in the more common
affected
inherited forms of color blindness.

A more common treatment for

For example, a certain form of neuritis curing blindness has been corneal
(nerve inflammation), often associated transplantation. More about it:

CORNEAL
TRANSPLANTS

Surgical removal of opaque or

deteriorating corneas and replacement
with donor transplants is a common
medical practice. Corneal tissue is a Antibodies carried in the blood have

vascular; that is, the cornea is free of no way to reach the transplanted tissue,

blood vessels. Therefore corneal tissue and therefore long-term success

is seldom rejected by the body’s following implant surgery is excellent.

immune system.
 WHAT ARE BIONIC
EYES?
An artificial eye provokes visual
sensations in the brain by directly
stimulating different parts of the optic
nerve. There are also other
experimental implants that can
stimulate the ganglia cells on the retina
or the visual cortex of the brain itself.
There is more concentration given to
the production of artificial retinas.
Here is the description of a
Bionic Eye:
Many types of artificial eyes have been
designed and research is still going on.
There is no standard model in this
case. Researchers are working out
different types of concepts.
Here are a few examples:
The prototype devices are 2
millimeters across and contain some
3,500 micro photodiodes. Placed
behind the retina, this collection of
miniature solar cells is designed to
convert natural light to electrical
signals, which are then transmitted to
the brain by the remaining healthy
parts of the retina.
A Belgian device has a coil that
wraps around the optic nerve, with
only four points of electrical contact.
By shifting the phase and varying the
strength of the signals, the coil can
stimulate different parts of the optic
nerve, rather like the way the electron
guns in TVs are aimed at different
parts of the screen. The video signals
come from an external camera and are
transmitted to the implant via
a radio antenna and microchip beneath
the skin just behind the ear.
Implants of a microchip,
smaller than the head of a pin and
about half the thickness of a sheet of
paper were used to remove blindness.
ENGINEERING DETAILS OF
THE BIONIC EYE
First, for visually impaired
people to derive the greatest benefit
from an enhanced-vision system, the
image must be adapted to their
particular blind areas and areas of poor
acuity or contrast sensitivity. Then the
information arriving instantaneously at
the eye must be shifted around those
areas. The thrust of all prosthetic
vision devices is to use an electrode
array to give the user perceptions of
points of light (phosphenes) that
are correlated with the outside world.
Thus, to achieve the expected shift of
the image across the stimulating
electrode array, the camera capturing
the image must follow the wearer's eye
or pupil movements by monitoring the
front of the eye under infrared (IR)
illumination. The eye-position monitor
controls the image camera's
orientation. If the main image-
acquisition camera is not mounted on
the head, compensation for head
movement will be needed, as well.
Finally, if a retinal prosthesis is
to receive power and signal input from
outside the eye via an IR beam
entering the pupil, the transmitter must
be aligned with the intraocular chip.
The beam has two roles: it sends
power, and it is pulse-or amplitude-
modulated to transmit image data.
Under the control of eye movement,
the main imaging camera for each eye
can swivel in any direction. Each of
these cameras--located just outside the
users' field of view to avoid blocking
whatever peripheral vision they might
have--captures the image of the outside
world and transmits the information
through an optical fiber to a signal-
processing computer worn on the
body.
THE SURGERY!
This concept of Artificial
Vision is also interesting to engineers,
because there are a number of
technicalities involved in this surgery
apart from the anatomical part. The
microsurgery starts with three incisions
smaller than the diameter of a needle in SOME FACTS ABOUT
the white part of the eye. Through the BIONIC EYES
incisions, surgeons introduce a
vacuuming device that removes the gel Scientists at the Space Vacuum

in the middle of the eye and replaces it Epitaxy Centre (SVEC) based at the

with saline solution. Surgeons then University of Houston, Texas, are

make a pinpoint opening in the retina using a new material, comprising tiny

to inject fluid in order to lift a portion ceramic photocells that could detect

of the retina from the back of the eye, incoming light and repair

creating a pocket to accommodate the malfunctioning human eyes. Scientists

chip. The retina is resealed over the at SVEC are conducting preliminary

chip, and doctors inject air into the tests on the biocompatibility of this

middle of the eye to force the retina ceramic detector.

back over the device and close the

The artificial retinas
incisions.
constructed at SVEC consist of
100,000 tiny ceramic detectors, each
1/20th the size of a human hair. The
assemblage is so small that surgeons
can’t safely handle it. So, the arrays are
attached to a polymer film one
millimeter in size. After insertion into
an eyeball, the polymer film will
simply dissolve leaving only the array
behind after a couple of weeks.

During the entire surgery, a

THE ANALOGY
biomedical engineer takes part actively There is a great degree of
to ensure that there is no problem with coherence between the ways our eyes
the chip to be implanted. function to that of a change over time

: as the respective camera. Perhaps – our

eyes had been the technologies are
further developed and inspiration CONCLUSION
behind the camera’s invention.
Restoration of sight for the blind is no
Here’s more about it: more a dream.

From the structural point of Bionic Eyes have made this true.
view the eye may be compared with a Though there are a number of
camera. The eyelids act as a shutter challenges to be faced before
and there is an entrance – the cornea; a technology reach the common man, the
diaphragm to regulate aperture and path has been laid.
therefore the amount of light entering –
This paper has tried to present the
the iris; a lens to focus the image;
concept of Artificial Vision through an
engineer’s viewpoint. Engineers play a
major role in the design stage of Bionic
ADVANTAGES OF BIONIC
Eyes. It is just a matter of 2-3 years
EYES
that the blind will be able to see
through these Bionic Eyes; thanks to
Science and Technology.
1.Discretion between night and day so
that the body clock may be
synchronized to the 24-hour day.
REFERENCES:
2.Detection of movement and obstacles
to aid mobility.
1. Neural Implants – First Bionic Eyes
by Victor Chase.

2. Anthony’s textbook of Anatomy and

Physiology -Gary A Thibodeau, Kevin
T Patton