Development of a retinal prosthesis (Bionic Eye)
Research Overview > Bionic Eye
Prof Robert Shepherd
Research Leader
Dr James Fallon
Research Fellow
PhD Students
Rosemary Cicione
Sam E. John
Joel Villalobos
A/Prof Chris Williams
Principal Investigator
Safety and Efficacy
Research Assistants
Alexia Freemantle
Rebecca Argent
Research Engineers
Mohit Shivdasani
Mark Harrison
The overall goal is to develop a bionic implant capable of restoring reading vision to people suffering from eye diseases such as macular degeneration, which is responsible for 48% of all blindness in Australia.
The figure below on the right outlines how the bionic eye is proposed to work. Click on the figure to view a larger image.
A video camera will capture and process the images and these images are sent wirelessly to a bionic implant. The implant then stimulates dormant optic nerves to generate ‘phosphenes’ that form the basis of images in the brain.
This research is part of the Bionic Vision Australia collaboration, which is a partnership between;
The Bionic Ear Institute
Centre for Eye Research Australia
University of NSW
National Information and Communication Technology Australia (NICTA)
University Of Melbourne
Watch a video describing the first prototype, from UNSW TV.
Bionic eye electrode array.