• Photovoltaic chip to prove partial vision to the blind

  • eye-solar-cell.jpg
    Stanford University has come up with a unique photovoltaic chip to provide partial vision to the blind. The existing artificial implants have faced a roadblock when passing of the data to a processing retinal chip and onward to the brain was concerned. But a research team at Stanford has deviced this solar cell array in the eye that not only generates power but also passes the data. Called the sub-retinal implant, it is placed behind the retina and generates power and passes the image data across the eyeball for the brain to process. The system includes a video camera to capture the image, a pocket PC to process the image real time, and a bright near-infrared LCD screen. This is where the solar feature comes into play, when the LCD screen produces enough light to enter the eye and charge-up the solar cell array.


    The photovoltaic system gives vision of 20/100, which is enough to recognize faces and read large print. When I read about such wondrous things, my faith in science always gets more and more instilled!
    [Greenmuze]

    Posted in Topics:Gadgets and Tech, Tags: , on December 28, 2009