Researchers At MIT Working on Retinal Implant Microchip That Could Help Restore Vision

Researchers at MIT are currently working on a retinal implant that can bypass damaged cells and send visual input to the brain to help restore vision.

Those who use the implant will need to wear a pair of glasses which have a built in camera embedded in them. The signal from the camera will then be sent to the microchip embedded in the eye which will then forward that visual signal on to the brain.

Although vision won’t be 100% fixed with the implant the camera and chip combination will help those to navigate around a room for example.

“If they can recognize faces of people in a room, that brings them into the social environment as opposed to sitting there waiting for someone to talk to them,” says Shawn Kelly, a a researcher in MIT’s Research Laboratory for Electronics and a member of the project.

The system works by using a coil built in to the glasses that wirelessly transmits power to coils around the eyeball. The power variances are then transmitted to a chip that is protected in a titanium case. The signals then activate electrodes that send the signal to the brain.