Biomedical engineers at the University of Southern California have developed a design (and filed for a patent), for a video camera to be implanted directly into the eye as a prosthesis to help with vision problems.

Normally the eye’s lens projects an image onto the curved surface (the retina) at the back of the eye. This creates problems for light-sensitive chips as they have to be flat.

One way round this is to use a camera outside the eye to record image and send them via a wire to the chip at the back of the eye. However, Michelle Hauer, an optical engineer at the University of Southern California claims it is better to implant the camera directly in the eye, but avoiding the retina.

Along with colleagues at the University, Hauer has developed a design that is small enough to be implanted within the lens of the eye, taking into account the effect of the cornea on incoming light.

The device transmits images to a chip at the back of the eye which passes the image signal on to the nerve cells.

Article taken from Ubergizmo