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Bionic Eye – an Artificial Vision & Comparative Study

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Bionic Eye – an Artificial Vision & Comparative Study International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Research (IJEEER) ISSN(P): 2250-155X; ISSN(E): 2278-943X Vol. 6, Issue 4, Aug 2016, 87-94 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd. BIONIC EYE – AN ARTIFICIAL VISION & COMPARATIVE STUDY BASED ON DIFFERENT IMPLANT TECHNIQUES DEEKSHA H N 1 & SANDEEP S 2 1Research Scholar, School of Bioscience & Technology, VIT University, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India 2Research Scholar, Department of Chemical Engineering, BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore, Karnataka, India ABSTRACT In this entire world for those millions of people whose vision is impaired they have got eye gears for rectification but for the truly blind people whose vision is darkened we don’t have any therapeutics. So the recent advancement in the technology has driven the mankind towards various approach like artificial implants for those blind subjects and the bionic eye with retinal, ocular, sub retinal implant technique seems to be promising as it is an integration of electronics, biomedical and the embedded engineering which acts as the artificial eye in interpreting the materialistic images of the world and plays the active role of natural cones and rods for brain image interpretence. This paper gives an overview of various retinal implant techniques in channelizing the subjects vision through artificial intelligence and if it is commercialized becomes the potential device for the blind subjects to see and interpret the Original Article Original colorful world KEYWORDS: Artificial Eye, Epi-Retinal Implant, Retinal Implant, Sub-Retinal Implant, Technology Received : Apr 13, 2016 ; Accepted: Aug 02, 2016; Published: Aug 11, 2016; Paper Id.: IJEEERAUG201610 INTRODUCTION The science has done several wonders to the mankind. We always have seen prosthetics which helped in overcoming handicappers. Bi- medical engineers play an important role in shaping the course of the pros-the tics. Now it is the responsibility of Artificial Vision through Bionic Eyes. The Chips are designed specifically to mimic the characteristics of the damaged retina, cones, and rods of the organ of sight that are implanted with a microsurgery. Whether it is Bio-medical, Computer, Electrical, or Mechanical Engineers – all of them have a vital role to play in the personification of Bionic Eyes. There is a hope for all the blinds in the form of Bionic Eyes. This innovative technology can add life to their vision less eyes. Later, this will create a revolution in the field of medical science. It is important to know certain facts about the organ of sight that is the human Eye before we proceed towards the technical aspects involved in Bionic Eye Systems. NEED FOR BIONIC EYE Due to the lack of effective therapeutic and remedial measures for Retinitis pigmentosa - RP and Age-related macular degeneration -AMD, it has lead to the development of experimental strategies to restore some degree of visual function to affected patients [1]. Since the rest of retinal layers are anatomically spared, several approaches have been designed to artificially activate this residual retina and bionic eye system. It is believed that electric stimulation of retinal neurons can produce light perception in patients who are suffering from retinal degeneration. Using this property we can channelize the functional cells to retain the vision with the help of www.tjprc.org [email protected] 88 Deeksha H N & Sandeep S electronic devices that assist these cells in performing the task of vision. We can make lakhs of people get back their vision at least partially. A design of an optoelectronic retinal prosthesis system which can stimulate the retina with resolution that corresponds to a visual activity of 20/80—which is sharp enough to orient yourself towards object, recognize faces, read large fonts, watch TV and perhaps most importantly lead an independent life. Bionic-Eye as Artificial Eye The lost vision can be bring back by bionic eye which is also known as visual prosthesis or retinal implant, the device helps the blind to return to functional vision. is an experimental visual device intended to restore functional vision. It generally takes the structure of an externally-worn camera that is close to a stimulator on the retina, optic nerve, or in the visual cortex, in order to manufacture perceptions in the visual cortex. Bionic eye restores the vision lost due to damage of retinal cells. The function of an Bionic Eye device, is to mimic the function of artificial eye. As it is made of the image sensors, processors, radio transmitters & receivers, and the retinal chip clubbed together in a single domain which is wide term for entire electronic system called as Bionic eye. The device is replaced in place of retina part of eyes, since device is a circle about the size of a five-cent piece. The device delivers the stimulation as it is silicon based chip which decodes radio signals. As the electrodes stimulated, using a small wires they send a signal to retinal ganglion cells, followed by optical nerve then to brain by which the pattern of light and dark spots according to which electrodes have been stimulated. The machine receives signals from a pair of glasses wear by the patient, which are fixed with a camera. The visual information will be feed in separate image processing part within camera, by extracting certain features which plays role in making the since of image. The component then breaks down the image into pixels and sends the information, one pixel at a time, to the silicon chip, which then reconstructs the image. The radio waves are responsible for broadcasting the data into the body. At present the equipment is only able to broadcast a 10 x 10 pixel. As there is chances of visual damage for partial vision participants, so they are excluded and only the blind participants are included. By using latest version the user able to make out between light and dark as well to see certain distinct objects as implant is array of 60 pixels, but the ultimate aim is to make it to 1000 pixels by which the user will be able to recognize faces and also helps in reading. The Bionic-Eye System The Visual prosthetics can be broken down into three major groups. Firstly The use of devices like CCD camera or the ultrasonic’s that capture the images and render the results to the system as sound or electrical inputs so that the individual can perceive the image path near to him. The second major form is retina enhancing machine which mimic the retinal functions by stimulating the retina with electrical signals which triggers the optic nerve to send message to the brain. The third major category is the digital camera which helps in image sampling and stimulates the brain with electrical signals--either by penetration or mounting the electrodes on the surface of the visual cortex. Retinal Implant Systems Now, Second Sight named company which got the approval from FDA to start the U.S. trails on a blind to get the limited present of vision. The second generation Argus II is designed with a 60 electrode array and a much smaller receiver that is implanted around the eye [7][8][9]. The Argus II is an electrode array that is surgically implanted onto the retina.. This electrode array is capable of sending signals to the brain which is impossible for the damaged human biological retina. The electrode array is not very useful unless it is receiving visual data to send to the brain. To solve this problem the patient is fitted with a pair of glasses embedded with a tiny video camera which continuously records footage of what is Impact Factor (JCC): 6.1843 NAAS Rating: 2.40 Bionic Eye –An Artificial Vision & Comparative Study Based on Different Implant Techniques 89 present in front of the patient. This video signal is sent wirelessly to a computer which filters and processes the video signal and feeds this compatible data to the electrode array. The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System can provide sight by detecting the light to people who have gone blind from degenerative eye diseases like macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. Both diseases deactivates the eyes' cones, rods and retina that perceive light patterns and pass them on to the brain in the form of nerve impulses, wherein these impulse patterns are then decoded as images. The Argus II system is a replacement for these photoreceptors. The second incarnation of 2nd Sight's retinal prosthesis consists of five main parts: • Digital-Camera embedded into a pair of glasses. It captures real time images and processes images to a micro- chip. • Video-Processing Microchip incorporated into a handheld unit. It catalyses images into electrical impulses that represents the light and dark patterns • Radio-Transmitter will wirelessly transmit the impulses into a receiver that is implanted above the ear or under the eye. • Radio-Receiver will send impulse to the retinal implant via hair-thin implanted wire. • Retinal-Implant with 60 electrode array on a chip that measures 1 mm by 1 mm. The whole system is driven by a battery pack and when the image is captured it is in the form of light and dark pixel patterns. These images are video processed to convert the 3d structured patterns and are decrypted to artificial: light” and “dark” environment patterns. The processor interprets these pulses to a radio transmitter on the glasses, which then transmits the pulses in the form of radio waves to a receiver implanted beneath the patient’s skin. The receiver is directly connected by a wire to the array of electrodes implanted at temporal side of the eye, and it sends the pulses through the wire [10]. Thus the impulses are then interpreted by the human brain and the message is displayed as ‘you are seeing a tree’ and thus the subject will identify the object.
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