Artificial Vision Moving from Science Fiction to Science Fact

In recent years artificial vision has become more than a fantasy and development has come to the point where there is extensive clinical trials going on with numerous patients getting implants to test the efficacy and potential marketability of the devices. Improvements in technology, increasingly safe and effective surgical procedures, and demonstration of tolerance by the human eye have corroborated to the optimistic view of attaining artificial vision. However, while clearly stating the advancements that have been made, this article also emphasizes how much more research and engineering abilities will be necessary before anything that is comparable with natural human vision can be recreated. The point is to have vision in order so that those who are legally blind can again become self reliant and live a normal life. Should people be investing a fortune in machines that may allow them to walk around their homes unguided but cannot allow them to cross the street? Also, whether implants can be used indefinitely is not clear at this point because most of the clinical trials have been going on for six months to a year, and no one knows the consequences of long term use.
Furthermore, the major companies dealing with artificial vision have been basing their research around restoration of vision for people with diseases of visual degeneration, especially retinitis pigmentosa, and not necessarily for the blind or for those who have lost eyesight through trauma, etc. The clinical trials mentioned in the article seems to have utilized retinitis pigmentosa patients exclusively to test the devices. Even within the field of visual problems, artificial vision is currently focusing on a very narrow realm, with a limited population that could use the developed technology. So although artificial vision is being increasingly recognized by the general public as a possible reality, they must keep in mind that it is still a very young field that has a long way to go.


weblink: http://www.eurotimes.org/09October/ArtificialVision.pdf