Scientists at Oxford University have made a pair of electronic glasses to help people with sight-destroying illnesses see their environments again.
The device uses grids of LED lights, placed in front of the eyes, to signify close objects to individuals who have lost almost all their vision. A team from Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, led by Dr Stephen Hicks, has settled a prototype version of the glasses and is presenting its research at this week’s Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in London.
Stereoscopic cameras devoted to the glasses rims apprehension graphic and depth information. Software then processes this data by recognising objects of interest and demonstrating them as simple patterns, with brighter lights signalling closer things.
It will also use smaller integrated cameras to make the glasses more comfy, while mobile phones are likely to be powerful enough to run the software, disregarding the need for a separate computer system. If the user turns their head, a gyroscope will indicate which way they are facing and a few seconds’ worth of memory will mean the system doesn’t have to recall the data if they turn back quickly, speeding up the dispensation.
A big part of the development will involve making the glasses more user-friendly and closer in appearance to real glasses, rather than being an understandable prosthetic.
Patient trials are due to start in the next few months, testing the viability of the device for people with diseases such as age-related macular deterioration and retinitis pigments’.
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