Solar Powered Eye Implants Are Coming

One of the biggest problems faced by researchers who are working on eye implants is the source of power; after all, you’re not going to plug yourself into a wall socket for charging, are you? It seems some that folks over at Stanford might have come up with the solution, which of course, involves solar power. The implant is 3mm wide, and 0.03mm thick, will be placed behind the retina at the back of the eye. An external video camera will be used to capture outside images, transmitting the information to a pocket PC for processing, then sending the feed to a near-infrared LCD display built into video goggles. The googles will then emit infrared light pulses through the eye to the implant itself, providing the electricity and images that the implant needs to function properly. Sounds pretty high tech (and it is), but because it’s still in the early stages of development, the implant will only give the user 20/200 vision, meaning you’ll need to be within 20 feet of an object to see it with the same clarity that a person with 20/20 vision can see from about 200 feet away.