"Star Trek: Galaxy Dragon" (Star Trek: The Next Generation) among the blacks, chief engineer "Hawkeye" because of congenital blindness while wearing a special glasses, the image conveyed directly into his brain, so that He could "see" things, but although the "Galaxy Dragon" is already 20 years ago an album, but a similar technology until now listed.
February 2013, FDA approved the "Argos II" (Argus II) ─ ─ Argos in Greek mythology Argus names ─ ─ artificial retina, in July, has experienced 20 years of development, cost of funding of up to $ 200 million of second-generation Argos finally officially listed in the United States.
Argos II is mainly used in patients with retinitis pigmentosa, retinitis pigmentosa is a genetic disease, the patient's retina photoreceptor cells gradually degenerate, and in the retina produces many abnormal pigmentation, causing vision gradually decay, vision slowly disappear from the periphery, and finally presented as if in the same tunnel vision, and finally as totally blind. So do not just play say "Like a ray of light in the tunnel", it means that the next step is blind.
Argos II system is divided into two parts, the body part, patients wear special glasses, there are miniature cameras, the camera captured scene, into a different signal, the optical signal is transmitted on the antenna.
(Credit: Second Sight)
In addition, the need to surgically implanted in the patient's retina 55 electrodes, as well as a receiving antenna on the eye when the eye glasses, the signals transmitted to the antenna, put electrodes on top of the signal transmitted to the retina, retinal nerve stimulation discharge, then the brains of patients will experience some kind of vision.
This produces a visual, actually can not really "see" things that humans originally had 4.5 million retinal cone cells and 90 million rod cells, now replaced with only 55 electrodes, one can imagine the "Resolution" will be reduced to what extent, and the distribution of 55 electrodes only about 20 degrees so that patients have the vision of it, however, although no way to enable patients to read, or read newspapers, but can be distinguished blurred surroundings, avoiding obstacles, has the patient's life is a big help.
(Source: MIT Technology Review)
Compared cochlear implant, artificial retina is lagging far behind the technological development for 30 years, but can be said that the second generation Argos taken the first step and look forward to the future with technological advances, the number of electrodes increases, the effect will be gradually improved, but under step may only increase to 60 to 240 electrodes, to enable patients to recognize faces, at least to thousands of electrodes, so the research had again harder ah.
