World’s first Bionic Eye System
Researchers at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia have developed the world’s first bionic eye system called the “Gennaris Bionic Vision System”. It has been under development, testing and research for about a decade now. By the end of the previous month in September 2020, they announced that the Monash research team is finally ready to start preparing for their first human trial sessions, having completed trial and testing on sheep successfully.
The idea behind the Gennaris system is that people with vision loss could potentially gain vision via bypassing the damaged optic nerves entirely and directly transmitting vision signals from the retina to the vision center of a person’s brain.
All of this is meant to be made possible through the Gennaris device which will be made custom for each user with a personalised headgear that is equipped with a camera and a wireless transmitter. The device system includes a set of 9 millimeter tiles which will be implanted into the user’s brain to receive signals from their custom headgear.
The Gennaris system has been invented by the Design Health Collab alongside the Monash Vision Group (MVG), the Alfred hospital, miniFAB, and Grey Innovation to create the prototype for the gear. The team hopes to assist people who suffer from complete vision impairment so that they can “see” using the device.
Here’s to hoping that the human trials are completed successfully and that the gear and the team receives the kind of funding they need to keep the cost and price of the device at a rate where it is easily accessible by all.
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Credit: Monash University
