New Surrogate Robot to Help Visually Impaired

A revolutionary new remote controlled robot developed by researchers at the California Institute of Technology or “Caltech,” is expected to help the visually impaired replicate the seeing process and deliver on the promise of independent mobility.


Visually impaired individuals who have been implanted with an artificial retina, which is an electrode studded silicon chip that can stimulate associated nerve cells, can make use of this robot to ‘see’ and lead a near normal life.

The robot has been named CYCLOPS and according to Wolfgang Fink, a guest associate in physics at Caltech, it is the first of its kind in helping the blind make full use of the implant.

Details of the CYCLOPS were published first in the journal Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine.

The artificial retina uses an embedded miniature camera which clicks images, processes them and then passes it along its electrode array.  

Researchers at Caltech are still working on refining this image processing logic.

With CYCLOPS, researchers can better understand and track the efficacy of these visual prostheses.

Conventionally, the blind in which these prostheses have been implanted were subjected to lengthy testing for potential enhancements. This method was tedious and cumbersome.

Now, scientists can for example test finer details like the impact on the image resolution by increasing the number of pixels on the chip. The robot can be used to follow a black line down a white floor or testing whether they can look for and enter a darkened doorway. Scientists hope to be able to get enough information to help make the workplace and home an easier place to navigate for the visually impaired with this testing.

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