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blind man s cap with artificial eyes on

Blindness is more feared by the public than any other ailment. Artificial vision for the blind was once the stuff of science fiction. But now, a limited form of artificial vision is a reality .Now we are at the beginning of the end of blindness with this type of technology. In an effort to illuminate the perpetually dark world of the blind, researchers are turning to technology. They are investigating several electronic-based strategies designed to bypass various defects or missing links along the brain's image processing pathway and provide some form of artificial sight.

This paper is about curing blindness. Linking electronics and biotechnology, the scientists has made the commitment to the development of technology that will provide or restore vision for the visually impaired around the world. This paper describes the development of artificial vision system, which cures blindness to some extent. This paper explains the process involved in it and explains the concepts of artificial silicon retina, cortical implants etc. The roadblocks that are created are also elucidated clearly. Finally the advancements made in this system and scope of this in the future is also presented clearly.

INTRODUCTION:

Artificial-vision researchers take inspiration from another device, the cochlear implant, which has successfully restored hearing to thousands of deaf people. But the human vision system is far more complicated than that of hearing. The eye is one of the most amazing organs in the body. Before we understand how artificial vision is created, it's important to know about the important role that the retina plays in how we see. Here is a simple explanation of what happens when we look at an object:

Scattered light from the object enters through the cornea.
The light is projected onto the retina.
The retina sends messages to the brain through the optic nerve.
The brain interprets what the object is.

The retina is complex in itself. This thin membrane at the back of the eye is a vital part of our ability to see. Its main function is to receive and transmit images to the brain. These are the three main types of cells in the eye that help perform this function: Rods, Cones and Ganglion Cells. The information received by the rods and cones are transmitted to the nearly 1 million ganglion cells in the retina. These ganglion cells interpret the messages from the rods and cones and send the information on to the brain by way of the optic nerve. There are a number of retinal diseases that attack these cells, which can lead to blindness. The most notable of these diseases are retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. Both of these diseases attack the retina, rendering the rods and cones inoperative, causing either loss of peripheral vision or total blindness. However, it's been found that neither of these retinal diseases affects the ganglion cells or the optic nerve.

This means that if scientists can develop artificial cones and rods, information could still be sent to the brain for interpretation. This concept laid the foundation for the invention of the ARTIFICIAL VISION SYSTEM technology.

HOW TO CREATE ARTIFICIAL VISION?
The current path that scientists are taking to create artificial vision received a jolt in 1988, when Dr. Mark Humayun demonstrated that a blind person could be made to see light by stimulating the nerve ganglia behind the retina with an electrical pulses that could restore vision. Today, such a device is very close to be available to the millions of people who have lost their vision to retinal disease. In fact, there are at least two silicon microchip devices that are being developed. The concept for both devices is similar, with each being:
· Small enough to be implanted in the eye
· Supplied with a continuous source of power
· Biocompatible with the surrounding eye tissue