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ADVERTISEMENT All Articles Blogs Videos Slideshows Podcasts MAGAZINE MULTIMEDIA BLOGS SPECIAL REPORTS NEWSLETTERS WEBINARS WHITEPAPERS BUYERS' GUIDE RSS AstrophysicsAviationMilitaryRobotic ExplorationSatellitesSpace Flight BionicsDevicesDiagnosticsEthicsImagingEmbedded SystemsHardwareITNetworksSoftwareAudio/VideoGadgetsGamingPortable DevicesStandardsEnvironmentFossil FuelsNuclearPolicyRenewablesThe Smarter GridAdvanced CarsBuildingsClean CoalConservationFuel CellsGeothermal and TidalMass TransitSolarWindDIY RobotsArtificial IntelligenceHome RobotsHumanoid RobotsRobotics SoftwareIndustrial RobotsMedical RobotsMilitary RobotsDevicesDesignMaterialsMemoryNanotechnologyOptoelectronicsProcessorsInterne tSecurityStandardsWirelessEducationInnovationTech CareersHands OnProfilesTools & Toys ADVERTISEMENTPreliminary results from the argus II study: A 60 electrode With six months follow-up on seventeen subjects, to our knowledge, this is the largest study of a visual prosthesis. The Atmospheric pressure discharges via hybrid simulations Available Now REGISTERElectrostatic Actuation with COMSOL Multiphysics Available Now REGISTERScalable Baseband Solutions Available Now REGISTER HERE BigAccelerating Development of Smart Grid Power Available Now The design andSilicon Valley's Impact on the Automotive Industry Available Now Alt Text The Benefits of Risk Thu, Dec 22, 2011 Would we be safer overall if we just accept a few deaths due to software? COMMENTS: 16 Good-bye, Wheelchair, Hello Exoskeleton Fri, Dec 30, 2011 This year, the Ekso Bionics exoskeleton for paraplegics hits the market COMMENTS: 7 LED Bulbs for Less Fri, Dec 30, 2011 In 2012, there will finally be a first-rate LED bulb you can afford COMMENTS: 8 Alt TextGood-bye, Wheelchair, Hello Exoskeleton January 2012 This year, the Ekso Bionics exoskeleton for paraplegics hits the market COMMENTS: 7LED Bulbs for Less January 2012 In 2012, there will finally be a first-rate LED bulb you can afford COMMENTS: 8With Science and Patience, Lawsuits against Nanotechnology Are Avoidable Mon, January 02, 2012 Essentially rediscovering the potential toxicity of every material takes more than six years COMMENTS: 3 Aerospace: 12.22.2011

The Benefits of Risk Would we be safer overall if we just accept a few deaths due to software? Semiconductors: 12.21.2011 Strain Speeds Organic Transistors Big boost in charge-carrier mobility could open organic semiconductors to new applications Energy: 12.19.2011 Disaster Forensics What can electrical engineers learn from the worlds worst natural disasters? Consumer Electronics: 05.01.2004 Where Is the Vision for Telecom? Aerospace: 02.26.2010 Software for Optical Systems Spells the End of Blur NASA software that calculates optical aberrations will sharpen images from space and could redefine perfect vision for humans Semiconductors: 01.04.2012 Why is Russia Hot on Molecular Nanotech and the US Not? Forms of government and the political realities they engender could be at the root of Russia's attraction to molecular nanotechnology Biomedical / Bionics FEATURE Birth of the Bionic Eye In 2012, electrodes will bring eyesight to the blind By Eliza Strickland / January 2012 redditSlashdotDiggStumbleUpondeliciousFacebookTwitter Photo: David YellenSEEING THE SIGHTS Barbara Campbell's retinal prosthesis sends 30 images per second to her optic nerve.When light hits Barbara Campbell's eyes, it triggers no response in her retinas, and no signals flash up her optic nerves to her brain. A genetic disease killed off her retinas' photoreceptor cells, leaving her completely blind by her 30s. But where her body failed her, technology rescued her. In 2009, at the age of 56, Campbell had an array of electrodes implanted in each eye, and she now makes her way through the world more confidently, aided by bionic vision. Her sight isn't fully restored, not by a long shot, but the darkness has been replaced with rough shapes and patterns of light and dark. "The building where I live has a large light at the entranceway outside," says Campbell, who lives in New York City. "I hadn't been able to see that light in 16 years. Now, when I'm walking down the block, I can look up and identify the building." The devices in Campbell's eyes come from Second Sight Medical Products. After 13 years of product development, the company's Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System is now hitting the market. In 2011 the company won regulatory approval in Europe [PDF], and eye surgeons there are just beginning to perform the implants. This year the Los Angelesbased company hopes to get approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well. "I didn't think it would take this long," says CEO Robert Greenberg, "but it's finally real." The process that allows the blind to see starts with a pair of sunglasses, which sport a tiny video camera mounted in the bridge just above the nose. The camera captures an image and sends it down a wire to a visual processing unit hanging

on the patient's belt. That VPUwhich is a little larger than a smartphoneconverts the world's complexities into a 60-pixel image in black and white, which it sends back to transponders on the glasses. From there the image goes wirelessly to antennas wrapped around the sides of the eyeballs, and from there to the 60-electrode arrays that are tacked to the delicate retinas. The Argus II system can't help all blind people, only those with degeneration of the retina's photoreceptor cells. The electrodes take the place of those damaged photoreceptors and stimulate the cells that are attached to the optic nerve. So far, Second Sight has concentrated on patients with retinitis pigmentosathe disease Campbell hasbut the company's device may also help with macular degeneration. Greenberg says that about 200 000 people in the United States and Europe could benefit from the implants. Campbell was a volunteer in the second round of clinical trials. Her doctor, Lucian Del Priore, explains that patients need training to get the technology's full benefits. At first the medical team directly stimulates the electrodes. Says Del Priore: "We electronically project an image of a square onto the retina, and say, 'What does that look like?' And the patient says, 'It looks like an amoeba.' " The technicians have to compensate for differences in the distance between each electrode and the retina, Del Priore explains. "The distances have to be balanced, like balancing your stereo system." Once the training and the balancing are done, however, patients gain a crude kind of visionenough to make out doorways, the crosswalk on a street, the brightness of a face turned toward them. "We're not providing normal vision," says Greenberg. "We're providing cues and clues to help people navigate the world." Second Sight's engineers are already thinking about their next move. Greenberg says a device with more electrodes (and thus more pixels) is likely, but adds that patients' vision can also be improved by using software tricks in the visual processing unit. The company is already experimenting with color vision. "We've produced blues and oranges and yellows repeatedly," Greenberg says. "Blues seem to be the most emotionally rewarding. Almost universally, patients say, 'Please, show me that again.' " This article originally appeared in print as "Future Vision." TAGS: Argus II // Second Sight // eye // prosthesis // retina // vision Comment FAQ Comment Policy Use my avatar from... No avatar My computer My Facebook Profile My Google Profile My Twitter Account My Yahoo! Account Gravatar email LoginLogin with: My Facebook Profile My Google Profile My Twitter Account My Yahoo! Account My OpenID ShareShare with: This Page My Facebook Friends My Google Friends My Twitter Followers My Yahoo! Friends

This PageWhat's on your mind... FollowLeave a comment@Controls Echo 1 ItemsAdmin Log In Edit My Profile Follow Moderation General Settings Admin Notices rahul kapoor This means that thr is a way thrgh whch ppl suffrng frm retinal pigmentosis can see.. What is the cost of this? 4 days ago, 10:16:02 AM Flag Like Reply Delete Edit Moderate IBM Rational: Optimizing the Development Process: Merging Model-Driven Development & Requirements-Driven Development Processes IBM: Build Smart Metering Solutions with IBM Informix TimeSeries APC: Estimating a Data Centers Electrical Carbon Footprint APC: Fundamental Principles of Network Security APC: How Data Center Infrastructure Management Software Improves Planning and Cuts Operational Costs APC: Classification of Data Center Management Software Tools APC: Implementing Energy Efficient Data Centers APC: Electrical Efficiency Measurement for Data Centers Nimbic: Achieving Maxwellaccurate Electromagnetic Integrity in ChipPackageSystem Design IBM: Rational Team Concert Data Sheet IBM: Fostering innovation and efficiency through collaborative change management IBM: Collaborative software delivery: Managing todays complex environment to improve software quality. IBM: Rational Solution for Collaborative Lifecycle Management IBM: Requirements, quality and test management e-Kit IBM: Accelerate quality with automation IBM: Quality management across the product and service lifecycle IBM: Deliver high quality applications faster with reduced risk and cost IBM: Driving systems engineering value through trade studies IBM: Enabling software reuse using successful component-based development practices. IBM: Delivering a smarter planet: an exploration of systems of systems IBM Rational solutions for smarter government services IBM: Enabling the delivery of high-quality financial products and services IBM: Systems Eng - The foundation for success in complex systems development IBM: Turning Product Development into Competitive Advantage ANSYS: The Role of Simulation in Innovative Electronic Design IBM Informix TimeSeries: Benchmark Testing Demonstrates Unprecedented Performance and Scalability for Meter Data Management IBM Rational: Unit testing - The Key to Quality in Smarter Products IBM Rational: Mobile Technologies - Exploiting Development Technologies to Drive Desired Business Outcomes IBM Rational: Cutting-edge Multicore Development Techniques for the Next Wave of Electronics Products IBM Rational: The Invisible Thread: Driving Innovation Through Software in Smart Products IBM Rational: Systems Engineering - The Foundation for Success in Complex Systems Development IBM Rational: Managing Quality in Product Line Engineering - An Automotive Story IBM Rational: Four Key Strategies for Enabling Innovation in the Age of Smart Silicon Valley's Impact on the Automotive Industry IBM Video: Informix TimeSeries ANSYS: The Race to 6G - Faster Networks and Devices, Promise a World of New Possibilities COMSOL: Drastically Improve Compute-Intense Applications in the SuperComputing Cloud ADVERTISEMENT

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