Two stories hit this week about a bionic eye.  Since I a almost confused the two, I thought I’d do us all a favor and detail both of them in one post.

The first story, which hit yesterday, is about a 73-year old man (above) who has had a very minute part of his vision recovered.  30 years ago Ron lost his vision due to etinitis pigmentosa.  Now thanks to an American company, Second Sight, he can now make out flashes of colored light and dark.  The eye, which is called Argus II is in fact a tiny camera and video processor mounted to a pair of glasses that sends the captured info to a sensor affixed to Ron’s eye.  He’s is just one of 18 patients taking part in Second Sights experimental bionic eye.

[Gizmodo]

The other story is about an aspiring filmaker who lost one of his eyes in a childhod accident.  Appropriately, dubbed the Eyeborg Project it involves a photographer/engineer, a team of ocularists, inventors and engineering specialists.  Unlike the previous story, the team has no plans to help blind people recover their vision, at least not yet.  In fact, they’ve created a prosthetic eye that features a built-in CMOS sensor that measure just 1.5×1.5mm big.  Built into the cameras is a tiny RF transmitter that wirelessly sends the cameras captured contents to a video recorder placed in a backpack.  The team is currently creating a film documenting their experiencc living with a bionic eye.

[Crave]