While robot eyes sound like a scary prospect, when your primary eye is not functioning properly they could help you see. In some cases, they could even be used to spot things that the normal eye can't observe.
While humans have a pretty good vision system, we can agree there are certain things that we just aren't designed to do. We can feel heat, but we can't see it without a special camera. We don't have the vision of an eagle, or the ability to see fast-moving objects as well as a fly. We just didn't evolve that way.
So there's a technology known as bionic eyes that could either enhance what we already have, or grant sight if we don't have it in the first place. One recent example of that took place with a U.K. pensioner in Britain.
According to wire service AFP, Ray Flynn is an 80-year-old with macular degeneration. It's a common form of blindness that affects people all over the world and is cited as the leading cause of losing eyesight among 50-year-olds and older in developing countries.
The University of Manchester implanted the eye, which uses a tiny video camera implanted in the brain to convert images for Flynn to see. Now Flynn can return to his favorite activities, including cheering on his football team and doing some work in the garden.
Imperial College London is also discussing using a different kind of bionic eye, an artificial one that would be implanted in robots. The machines could then use it to see problems in the assembly line that humans can't see (and the tech could also be applied to blind people, potentially.)
Bionic eyes are still in the testing phase, and it will have to be decided who is best to use them. Besides the blind, should certain types of workers get it as a preventative measure against risks to eyesight? What if your family has a history of cataracts or something similar? These will all have to be decided.
Have a neat use for bionic eye technology? Let us know by launching a HeroX challenge.
Top image: The Borg in Star Trek used what appear to be bionic eyes. Credit: CBS/Memory Alpha
