CYCLOPS - a mobile robotic platform, or rover designed to emulate what the blind can see
The blind can see! Thanks to the researchers at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) who have created a remote-controlled robot that is able to simulate the "visual" experience of a blind person who has been implanted with a visual prosthesis, such as an artificial retina.
This artificial retina or retinal prosthesis captures the image from the environment, it is then processed and passed along the implanted silicon chip's electrode array. The chip directly stimulates the eye's functional retinal ganglion cells, which carry the image information to the vision centers in the brain.
The mobile robotic platform or rover, a.k.a. Cyclops, is the first such device to emulate what the blind can see with an implant, says Wolfgang Fink, a visiting professor in physics at Caltech. Cyclops is equipped with a gimballed camera, four-rubberized grooved wheels and a computing platform which contains the algorithms to process the captured images. Though for now it is operated locally by a joystick, it is hoped that this approach may one day give blind persons the freedom of independent mobility.
Click here to read the full "CYCLOPS: A Rover for the Blind with Artificial Retina Implant" article.
