Meet A Real Bionic Man

 

Take a look at the above picture and by awed by it.  What you see in the image is not a trick.  No touching up or photoshopping has been done to the image in any way.  That really is a red, glowing light coming from the right eye socket of that man.

 

Meet filmmaker Rob Spence.  He lost the use of his right eye during a childhood accident and ever since then he has had a prosthetic replacement for cosmetic purposes.  However, a little while ago he realized his vacated eye socket could be used for a whole lot more than just as a place to hold a fake eye.  Last week, Spence worked together with engineer Kosta Grammatis to produce what you see here . . . a working red LED, complete with powersource, that fits inside his occular cavity.

 

The LED, while really cool looking, isn't the ultimate goal though.  No, this was just a test to see if they could make a powersource small enough to fit into his eye socket.  Now that this has been proven possible, Mr. Spence is moving on towards his main goal . . . to install a functioning wireless video camera into his eye.

 

The camera will record anything and anyone that enters Spence's field of vision and relay the footage back to a computer. That video will provide a unique perspective on the way video surveillance is becoming more popular in western societies, he told New Scientist.

 

Once completed, Rob Spence has said he will be the world's first official "Eyeborg".  There has even been talk of including an LED in with the video camera as well, assuming that it won't drain the battery too fast. 

 

On behalf of all of us here at Geek-tastic, I wish Mr. Spence the best of luck in completing his goals.  I find it incredibly cool that he's taking what most would see as a handicap and is turning it into something that could not only be an interesting art project, but could also advance the way in which occular implants are seen.  Let's assume he can get that video camera to work.  Who's to say that in a number of years, doctors won't be able to find a way to get the brain to be able to decode certain types of video signals from eye cameras, thus enabling those who have lost their sight to be able to see again. 

 

It could happen, you never know.  And it's always enterprising people like Mr. Spence who get this sort of thing rolling.  The best of luck to you sir.  May you be a functioning eyeborg soon.

 

(Via IO9)