2 replies to this topic

[ocsrazor]

The one year update on human trials of one of the first intraocular retinal implants made the news today.

article from Eurekalert
Retinal prosthesis trial completes first phase of testing

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Ocsrazor

[kevin]

Could not a video image be sent to the retinal implant, eliminating the need for a video terminal? Combining this with the 'cell-phone' implant may make a person able to surf the internet from anywhere... You would be truly 'online'.

[ocsrazor]

I think they are using a direct video feed with this system, just need to have a digital signal processing chip cut down the information being sent going into the implant since it only has 4x4 pixel resolution.

Things are looking really great for visual and audio implants over the next ten years. If I ever go into industry again it will be for sensory impants. There are technical issues for visual implants such as power consumption, resolution, and miniturization to be worked out but things are moving along nicely. I think the preferred method for visual implants is going to wind up being directly into the visual cortex (and maybe eventually the lateral geniculate nucleus) once the decoding issues are worked out.