I was totally impressed with the current technologies where blind people may have some hope to be able to 'see' something visually in the coming future. According to the RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind), blind people is referred to as people whose vision was loss / severely impaired. They will not have the ability to tell light or dark, which also means that their impaired vision reaches below 20/200.


Caption: the 73 year old blind man

Okay, here is the interesting article that I have read. It says the upcoming technology (known as the bionical eye) will provide blind people some sight. Here is the story.


Caption: transplanting the device into the retina

A blind person of age 73 had participated the experimental surgery few months ago at London's Moorfield's eye hospital. He had total vision loss for at least 30 years, and surprisingly, after this operation, he would be able to see flashes of light. This means he could walk on the road, following white lines on the road. I think white colour items should be visible to him. According to the eye sergeon, the most difficult part of the operation is the transplantation of the device into the retina.

How could he do that? Simple. He utilises the so-called bionical eye technology, fitting the device directly into his eyes through the operation. This sunglasses utilises a camera and video processor and has the capturing function to send and receive images wirelessly into the device in his eye. When the receiver was turned on, a tiny cable transfer the data to the electrodes. The electrodes will sit on the retina of the blind person, outside the layer, and that thing will respond to light found on the back of the retina. In other words, the electrode will stimulate the optic nerve in the brain, and allowing the receiver to perceive to patterns of light.

Here is the process.


Caption: perceiving the letter 'E' from the board


Caption: perceiving the 'E' by the device


Caption: the 'E' has successfully perceived by the device


Caption: the retina and the device


Caption: the interaction of the device and the retina


Caption: the 'E' was successfully perceived in the device in the retina


Caption: the information ('E') stored in the retina for some time


Caption: The 'E' was published to the retina, and then to the brain

These pictures were captured from BBC.

To date, this research has managed to surmount related to blindness, especially for people who have been blind through retinitis pigmentosa (retinis pigmentosa represents a group of inherited eye disease that cause degeneration to the retina, and then leading to blindness). According to BBC, this research will at least be beneficial for 25k residences in the UK. The 18 people who have fitted this device on their retina commented: "I can actually sort out white socks, grey socks and black socks", which I seriously think it is an entirely amazing piece of project. The contribution of this project has encourage blind people to (1) do some washing (2) be able to tell white form coloured items. I think researcher should continue the progress of this research to NOT only allow blind people to perceive 'white-coloured objects', but many other colours.