Learning Retinal Implant System

(IMI), a Zug, Switzerland-based company just announced a learning retinal implant system, which has been successfuly implanted in two humans already. The implant is designed to "replace signal-processing functions of a healthy retina and provides input to the retinal nerve cells (the ganglion cells) that, in turn, provide input to the optic nerve and the brain", and at at 50-electrodes, the device is far beyond 16-electrode predecesors.

The system comprises on an implant, also called "The Retinal Stimulator", a pair of spectacles that contain a camera and a transmitter, and a wearable computer worn at the patient's waist that processes the input from the camera to replace the information processing function of the formall healthy retina.

The use of a high-speed digital signal processor allows the provision of "intelligent information" to the implant (and the nerve cells) by using tuneable software to approximate the information processing normally carried out by the healthy retina. The entire process enables patients to optimize their visual perception during the learning phase. Indeed, using the patient's feedback on perception as an input for the tuning of The Pocket Processor is the unique, patent-protected feature of the System and constitutes the 'learning' capability of the Learning Retinal Implant System.

[ Link via medgadget / del.icio.us ]