Bionic Vision Brining together computer science, engineering and biology

1. Elliot Whaley • Department of Computer Sciences • Villanova University Bionic Vision Brining together computer science, engineering and biology • William Dobelle'sfirst prototype was an implant in to a blind man, in 1978. A single-array BCI containing 68 electrodes was implanted onto his visual cortex. BCI measures minute differences in the voltage between neutrons. The signal is then amplified and filtered. Then interpreted by a computer program or device. A reverse BCI has the computer converts signal from a camera to trigger the necessary neurons • Prototype created by Babax Parviz at the University of Washington. • Current results: • Contains electronic circuit and red LED lights for display. • Tested on a rabbit for 20 minutes with no side effects. • Expected Results: • A display of a few pixels should be operational fairly quickly. • Zoom into distant objects and display useful information in front of the eye. • Wirelessly connect to devices such as laptops and iphones. • In 2002, Jens Naumannone of 16 paying patients to receive Dobelle’s second generation implant, one of the first commercial uses of BCIs. Major Areas of Bionic Vision Medical Procedures /aiding the blind Example: Brain machine interface systems (BCI) Strengths – Can give vision back to the blind or aid those who are blind. Weakness- Can be cumbersome due to its size. Costly May involve surgery Contact lenses with a computer chip Example: lenses created by the University of Wash Strengths- Portable, requires no surgery Weaknesses- Have not been created yet, energy source not yet developed, only available for people with eyes. • SWANsystem which stands for System for Wearable Audio Navigation. It provides audio directions to guide the blind. • The system works in 2 ways: • Tells the user of up coming obstacles • Tells the userhow far to walk and in what direction. Wearable Vision aids Example: EyeTap Strengths-Can record your life and play it back to you while improving vision. Weakness-Problem of inequiveillance which is the imbalance between surveillance and sousveillance. Features . This device started as a big clumpy device over the eyes however, in the past 30 years its development has led to smaller more visually attractive device resembling everyday eyeglasses The EyeTap is an experience capturing system • functions as a camera • functions as a display. • electronic visual aid • surveillance system • a lifelong cyborglog Rays of light are reflected by the diverter, which is a double-sided mirror. The rays of light are collected by a sensor camera. The camera data is processed and the aremac redisplays the image as rays of light. The rays are again reflected off the diverter and the user perceives the virtual light as either an image or a computer mediated version of the real world. • Adaptive optics • a technique originally designed to sharpen images for military surveillance • adaptive optics allows people to see at high resolution • David R. Williams of the University of Rochester has developed an approach to obtain this vision • this method is used to help cure bad vision • Scene specific imaging • bionic vision can be adjusted depending on the scene type • scene tare translated into an algorithm in order to be categorized • brings together aspects of image that are known to influence the attention of the human viewer Conclusions Bionic Vision methods and techniques have come a long way in aiding the blind and pushing human vision beyond its limits. Building on past successes the future for bionic vision is within sight!