by

M.GAYATRI (09551A0494) & L.SPANDANA (09551A04B6)

GIET RAJANAGARAM
EVOLUTION OF THE ARTIFICIAL EYE

ABSTRACT
World wide 42 million people are without sight, according to the statistics from Research to Prevent Blindness, for decades, scientists and eye doctors have been trying to develop artificial eyes that would return the sense of sight to blind and visually impaired people. The present paper is about the evolution of that spectacular attempt called Artificial Eye a new technology which is going to be proved as a great blessing to the blind.

This paper deals with the evolution of the Bionic Eye in a Chronological order. The first progressive step in this field is Intracular Retinal Prosthesis which can restore sight to people with degenerative diseases of the Retina. Implantable Miniature Telescope, is a later development. It is a micro sized precision Telescopic device to provide improved quality of vision especially for the severe vision loss caused by dysfunction of the macula. Then came the Artificial Silicon Retina which is designed to simulate damaged retinal cells ,in patients with retinitis pigmentosa. Further research on retina resulted in cellular non-linear network. It could truly mimic the entire nerve system of the retina back of the human eye. All these efforts united giving rise to Bionic Eye. It uses a tiny electronics circuit to deliver controlled, electronic stimulation to the surviving nerve cells of the retina. The module will receive data from a tiny camera in the frame of patients glasses delivering a yellowish image which as a vast

improvement on complete blindness. Thus Researchers ray of optimum took the shape of Bionic Eye assuring brightness to the blind.

EVOLUTION OF THE ARTIFICIAL EYE

INTRODUCTION:
Worldwide 42 million people are without sight, according to statics from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc. For decades, scientists and eye doctors have been trying to develop artificial eyes that would return the sense of slight to blind and visually impaired people. The idea of a bionic eye may not be too far fetched due to the developments in this field. The professors of ophthalmology say that the first target population would be those who had sight once and then lost it due to certain types of blindness such as retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration. Test results so far have revealed that some patients were capable of detecting when a light was turned on or off, describing the motion of an object and counting discrete objects. The capability to recognize faces or read large print is thought to be possible only with 1,000 or more electrodes. A researcher of the University of New South Wales, is working on an implant with 100 electrodes, which he hopes will give patients the ability to differentiate between night and day, detect obstacles and provide some rudimentary reading skills. While these approaches focus on the camera being outside the body, Dr. Alan Chow of Optobionics hopes to develop a silicon retina that has the sensing equipment onboard 4,000 to 5,000 microscopic solar cells that function in place of the eyes natural sensors. Putting in all the electronics, though, may prove to be a problem, since the eye is a corrosive environment where electronics do not do too well, but certain materials have been shown to be biocompatible and thus will exist in the body without major tissue reactions. A pea-size implantable Miniature Telescope, or IMT, embedded in only one eye is the basis of the work done by Ophthalmic Technologies. Replacing the eyes lens, the telescope projects images over the undamaged area of the retina and provides central straight-ahead vision while the other eye handles peripheral vision. For those whose peripheral vision remains intact, the device could prove to be a great blessing. IMT device is an investigational device limited by federal law to investigational use.The technology aids those who have not totally lost sight from blinding diseases. For those whose peripheral vision remains intact, the IMT could prove to be a great blessing. By passing the need to have intact retinas entirely, the Dobelle Institutes brain implant approach uses an external camera and directly interfaces with the brain through electrodes attached to the visual cortex. While this technique offers treatment for a wider variety of vision problems, considerable difficulties exist in mapping the stimulation sites in the brain.

Though the bionic eye is still at least five years away by most estimates, experts are nevertheless hopeful. While good progress is being made on both the retinal and the cortical (brain) chip implants, it is not clear if either of these approaches will finally work, said Dr. Gerald Chader, the chief scientific officer of the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Other researchers are focusing on new technology to replace damaged retinas, the part of the eye that converts light into electrical impulses that are sent to the brain to be turned into images.

NASA hopes to begin human testing this year on ceramic detectors that could be detectors that could be implanted in the retina to take over the job of damaged retinal cells. And the Office of Naval Research goes one step further it says it is on the way to developing a chip that would replicate the entire nerve center of the retina.

Series of Inventions in chronological order:

Intraocular Retinal Prosthesis:
Internationally recognized ophthalmologists are perhaps best known for the invention and development of an intraocular retinal prosthesis, or eye chip, which may be able to restore sight to people with degenerative diseases of the retina such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. In a normal functional eye, a spot of light cast upon the retina triggers a cascade of physiological events. This cascade culminates with a signal, propagating from a particular type of nerve cell called a retinal ganglion cell, travelling along the optic nerve to the vision centers of the brain for interpretation as a spot of light. In an eye affected by diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, the cascade of physiological events no longer occurs and thus the electrochemical signal to the brain is not initiated. However, the pathway and mechanism for delivering the electrochemical signal remains in tact. Furthermore, the electrochemical signal is capable of being initiated through artificial (electronic) stimulation. The team is also behind the development of a new microsurgical technique known as macular translocation, which is designed to treat patients suffering from macular degeneration, a blinding disease of the retina.

Implantable Miniature Telescope:

VisionCares lead product is the implantable Miniature Telescope (IMT). The IMT is a micro-sized precision telescopic device, which has been developed to provide improved vision and quality of life for individuals with moderate to severs vision loss caused by dysfunction of the macula, a specialized area of the retina that is responsible for detailed central vision.

Implanted Miniature Telescope (IMT)

The IMT is implanted by an ophthalmic surgeon in an outpatient surgical procedure. The device is implanted is one eye, which provides central vision, while the non-implanted eye provides peripheral vision for safe mobility and navigation. After the surgical procedure, the patient participates in a structured training programme to maximize their ability to use the IMT. Being an ocular prosthesis, the IMT allows patients to sue natural eye movements to scan the environment and reading materials.

Artificial Silicon Retina:

Optobionics artificial Silicon Retina (ASR) microchip is designed to stimulate damaged retinal cells, allowing them to send visual signals again to the brain. This may be possible in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and possibly other retinal conditions. Optobionics based in Wheaton, Illinois, have taken the first steps with tiny microchips that can mimic certain parts and function of the human eye such as the rods and cones, sensors that convert light into electrical impulses at the retina located at the back of the eye. The ASR microchip is a silicon chip 2mm in diameter and 25 microns thick, less than the thickness of a human hair. It contains approximately 5,000 microscopic solar cells called micro photodiodes, each with its own stimulating electrode. These micro photodiodes are designed to convert the light energy from images into electrical chemical impulses that stimulate the remaining functional cells of the retina in patients with AMD and RP types of conditions.

The ASR microchip is powered solely by incident light and does not require the use of external wires or batteries. When surgically implanted under the retina in a location known as the subretinal space the ASR chip is designed to produce visual signals similar to those produced by the photoreceptor layer. From their subretinal location, these artificial photo electric signals from the ASR microchip are in a position to induce biological visual signals in the remaining functional retinal cells which may be processed and sent via the optic nerve to the brain. In past and present, Stanford Universitys Nano Fabrication Facility, Optobionics has been researching and developing means to further improve the function and biocompatibility of the ASR microchip.

Cellular Nonlinear Network :

Scientists in the field of Naval Research believe they are on the path to a chip that could truly mimic the entire nerve system of the retina back of the human eye.

At the heart of their potential artificial eye is a well known chip design called a cellular nonlinear network (CNN). In the chip, individual computer circuits are connected to each other in a checkerboard array. Each connection can be given a mathematical weight that describes the relationship of each circuit to each other.

When the chip is exposed to image data, each pixel or point of light in the picture is sent to a specific cell in the chip. Mathematical algorithms can then manipulate each connections weight to produce different resulting images. One set of algorithms could help find the edges of an object in the image. Another set of algorithm could then find corners, while another set define contours. The CNN chip has multiple advantages that make it ideal for use in an artificial retina. While the algorithms for doing such CNN calculations are well known, the problem is figuring out how to connect it all with the human brain. There are a million optic nerve fibers leaving the eyes, and each goes to specific part of the brains cortex, and no one knows just how many or exactly which ones are needed to produce an image that could be understood by the brain.

Bionic Eye:
Researchers are at the forefront of international research into ways that new technology can be applied to restore sight to the blind. The so-called new technology, "bionic eye" contains tiny ceramic solar cells that mimic eye cell function. The solar cells are arranged on thin films, each containing more than 100,000 solar cells. Specifically, the bionic eye's mechanical solar cells perform the functions of the human eye's rod and cone cells, which work together to sense light and convert that light into images the brain can recognize. By using a tiny electronic circuit to deliver controlled, electronic stimulation to the surviving nerve cells of the retina in patients suffering from degenerative blindness, the team hopes to replace some of the physiological events that take place on a normal, healthy retina.

Bionic Eye Chip The device is implanted into the retinal area of the eye, the area generally inhabited by rod and cone cells. By delivering a controlled, localized, electronics pulse to the appropriate nerve cells, the electro chemical signal described above can be kick started , thus replacing the cascade of physiological events that initiates the signal in a normal eye. The brain is likely to interpret this signal as if it were a spot of light on the retina because the signal is the same irrespective of the way in which it is initiated.

Eye Chip:
Giving sight to the blind Sandia National Laboratories have released a prototype eye-chip that may eventually achieve the miraculous goal or restoring sight to the blind. Part of an ambitious project involving several US national labs and Universities, the chip will be inserted onto the retina of a blind patient and linked to nerves that will send electrical impulses to the brain for processing. The module will receive data from a tiny camera lodged in the frame of the patients glasses and the current MEMS (micro electro-mechanical systems) based array aims to produce 1000 points of light (compared with millions in the biological eye) delivering a yellowish image that is slow to form but nonetheless a vast improvement on complete blindness.

The idea will target blindness caused by diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. These diseases damage rods and cones in the eye that normally convert light to electrical impulses, but leave intact the neural paths to the brain that transport electrical signals. Enhancements for the patients implemented with bionic eye are: Discretion between night and day so that the body clock may be synchronised to the 24 hour day, Potentially relieving the often severe sleeping disorders associated with blindness. Detection of movement and obstacles to aide in mobility.

Some ability to read - recent studies have shown that reading speeds of up to 70 words per minute may be achieved by viewing a pixelised field. Scientists have completed a trial of the device on some patients and showed some improvement in their vision without major side effects or infection.

Future:
There is still the question of how to connect silicon chips to human nerve cells a process that is just being tried out with much simpler chips such as Optobionics artificial light sensors. It will still be quite some time before CNN chips could be implanted in humans if ever. Right now, most CNN chips are just too big about 1 or 2 square inches and require too much power to be embedded in an eye. Scientists at NASA have developed a technology that one day might restore sight to some people who are blind. The so-called "bionic eye" contains tiny ceramic solar cells that mimic eye cell function.

Bibliography :

Artificial intelligence by Anna Nova. An article in Electronics today by A.S.Bhasker Raj.