Researchers at Boston Retinal Implant Project have conceived a retinal prosthesis which could restore the sight of millions. The implant would take a wireless signal from a video camera, mounted on a pair of glasses, coupled via a miniature transmitter to a retinal implant array underneath the retina. The array’s electrodes would stimulate the healthy nerve cells directly to feed the image to the brain.

The team has already done short-term human tests and hopes to trial a permanent prosthesis by 2006.

From Kurzweil AI Technology Review.