Communications of the ACM
Human-like Cyborg Eye Could Power Itself Using Sunlight
A human-like artificial eye could eventually be used as a visual aid for the blind.
Credit: Yaying Xu/Fantastic ColorAnimation Technology Co., Ltd.
Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a spherical visual sensor that mimics the structure of the human eye.
The sensor contains a lens to focus light and a hemispherical retina filled with densely packed light-sensitive nanowires made from perovskite, which is commonly used in solar cells and could enable the eye to be self-powering, said HKUST's Zhiyong Fan, although the current version of the eye requires an outside power source.
When images of letters were projected onto the artificial lens to test how well it worked, a computer hooked up to the eye successfully recognized the letters E, I, and Y.
The artificial eye’s low image resolution compared with commercial sensors limits its utility, but existing visual prosthetic devices use a flat object for image sensing, said Fan, limiting the potential field of view compared with a human eye.
From New Scientist
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Abstracts Copyright © 2020 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA
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