Electronic camera mimics human eye
Thursday, 07 Aug 2008 09:53
The electronic eye camera could lead to bionic eyes
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An electronic camera has been created that uses a curved detection surface like a human eye, scientists claim.
Unlike other cameras which use a flat microchip as the light sensor, the sensor in the new design is a flexible mesh of wire-connected pixels.
The mesh is made from many of the same materials as a standard digital camera sensor, but has the unique ability to conform to irregular surfaces.
Over the last 20 years many researchers have tried to manufacture such electronic eye systems, but until now none were able to create a working camera.
John Rogers from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign said the new design "opens up exciting, new engineering design possibilities".
As well as opening up new possibilities for advanced camera design, researchers claim the development foreshadows artificial retinas for bionic eyes similar in concept to those in the movie Terminator and other popular science fiction.
"This approach allows us to put electronics in places where we couldn't before," Dr Rogers said. "We can now, for the first time, move device design beyond the flatland constraints of conventional wafer-based systems."
The development of the camera is described in the journal Nature.
