This document summarizes research on bionic eye technologies, including the Argus II and Alpha IMS retinal prosthesis devices. It provides background on common eye diseases like retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. Clinical trials show that the Argus II and Alpha IMS devices helped some patients detect light, objects, and even read to varying degrees. However, challenges remain in providing long-term power and interfacing with the brain. Overall, bionic eyes demonstrate the potential to restore vision but further developments are needed to improve functionality.

1. 1
Academic year 2016/2017
Republic of Tunisia
University of Sousse
Higher Institute of Applied Sciences and
Technology
BIO MEMS technology and application :
Bionic eye
Elaborated by : El –AGUECH Mohamed Amin
TALBI Malek
Supervised by: Dr. GUEDRI Lamia

2. Introduction
Human eye diseases
Artificial retinal prosthesis
Experiences and Results
Advantages and limits
Conclusion
2

3. Develop technology to be effective for
visual disabilities: BIONIC-EYE
Blindness:40million
Low
vision:128million
Normal vision
Common goal
[1]
3

4. Motivation :
What Is a Bionic Eye?
 Huge revolution in the field of
medicine: Hope for the blind
 Replaces functionality for a part or the
whole eye
 Chips specifically designed to imitate
retina characteristics
4
The first prototype : Brindley in 1960s who improvised a device on the cerebral cortex

5. Introduction
Human eye diseases
Artificial retinal prosthesis
Experiences and Results
Advantages and limits
Conclusion
5

6. Progressive degeneration of the rod photoreceptor cells in
the retina.
Retinitis pigmentosa (RP):
 Hereditary Genetic Disease
 Peripheral Rods degenerate
 Gradually progresses towards
center of eye
 Tunnel vision results
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7. Retinitis pigmentosa (RP):
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8. Age related macular degeneration(AMD):
 Genetically Related
 Cones in the macula region degenerate
 Loss of central vision
 Peripheral Retina spared
 Common among old people
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9. Age related macular degeneration(AMD):
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10. Introduction
Human eye diseases
Artificial retinal prosthesis
10

11. Experimental visual device restore functional vision
rectifies RP and AMD to an extent
Two of retinal prosthesis :
Epiretinal implantaion :ARGUS II
device
Subritinal implantaion : Alpha
IMS device
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12. 12
ARGUS II : [2]
The first approved device in clinical trials : USA and Europe.
Components : 3 external components and 3 internal components.
Micro -Camera
Visual Processing Unit: VPU
Wireless
transmitter
Electronics case
Wriless antenna
Multi-electrode array (60electrodes)
With this system working with a camera, the patient has to turn
the whole head and not just the eyes to look around.

13. 13
Who is eligible ?
Age 25 or older
Bare light or no light perception in
both eyes
Being able to receive the
recommended post-implant
clinical follow-up, device fitting,
and visual rehabilitation .

14. 14
Alpha IMS device : [3]
Foil substrate Power supply cable
 Alpha-IMS has been involved in clinical trials in Europe and Hong Kong.
It does not depend on an external camera but a totally implantable
structure
Return electrode
Ceramic housing
CMOS chip
(1500 electrodes )

15. Eligibility ? Same Criteria as the Argus II device.
Number of micro electrodes:1500
16 electrodes
15
+200electrodes +1000 electrodes

16. Introduction
Human eye diseases
Artificial retinal prosthesis
Experiences and Results
16

17. •9 females
•21 males
Number of
patients
•58
•+- 10
Main age
• 35,2
• +-11,5
Years since
diagnosis the
problems
Argus II statistics :
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18. Tests :
Orientation and Mobility:
Finding the door
50
40
30
20
10
0
60
after 3
manths
after 6
manths
faile Colonne1
Room with walls of uniform color Faisluuccress
Success
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19. After 5 years:
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 60% of patients (18/30) had experienced no device- or
surgery-related SAEs*
Only 1 patient had a SAE after the 3rd year of
implantation
1 case of retinal detachment was noticed after 4,5 years
One patient died at 6 years after implantation of natural
causes unrelated to the Argus II.
*SAE : Serious Adverse Event

20. • 13 females
• 16 males
Number of
patients
• 58
• +- 8,2
Main age
• 35,2
• +-11,5
Years since
diagnosis the
problems
Alpha IMS statistic :
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21. Test :
Ability to see objects and shapes
Reading letters and words
ability to read newspaper
headlines.
patients could see light, doors,
and windows
could detect whether a light was
on or off
patients did not respond to
implantation
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Test’s results :

22. Introduction
Human eye diseases
Artificial retinal prosthesis
Experiences and Results
Advantages and limits
Conclusion
22

23. Limits
Advantages
The technology may enable
people to recognize faces
and facial expressions.
Water-proof and corrosion- proof
: The chip is enclosed in a titanium casing
Expected Durability : 10 years
The unfortunate people who were
born blind do not have the
neurological capability to process
the data received via the wire.
The optic nerve must be at
least partly functional or else
the data will not be fully
processed.
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24. Introduction
Human eye diseases
Artificial retinal prosthesis
Experiences and Results
Advantages and limits
Conclusion
24

25. The results provide proof of principle that a subretinal (IMS)
and epritinal (Argus) implant can restore reliably measurable
visual function.
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to do more than
Now Bionic devices are developing
replacing defective parts.

26. Providing
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power to run bionic implants and
making connections to the brain's control system
pose the two great challenges for biomedical
engineering.
We are now looking at devices like bionic arms,
tongues, noses etc.

27. Thank you for your attention !
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28. 1 Brig A Banarji , Col VS Gurunadh, Col S Patyal , Col TS Ahluwalia, Maj Gen DP
Vats, SM, VSM, Col M Bhadauria : Visual Prosthesis : Artificial Vision
2Tai-Chi Lin, Hua-Ming Chang , Chih-Chien Hsu , Kuo-Hsuan Hung , Yan-Ting
Chen , Szu-Yu Chen , Shih-Jen Chen : Retinal prostheses in degenerative retinal
diseases , Journal of the Chinese Medical Association (2015)
3Katarina Stingl , Karl Ulrich Bartz-Schmidt , Dorothea Besch , Caroline K.
Chee , Charles L. Cottriall , Florian Gekeler a , Markus Groppe , Timothy L.
Jackson , Robert E. MacLaren , Assen Koitschev , Akos Kusnyerik , James
Neffendorf , Janos Nemeth , Mohamed Adheem Naser Naeem , Tobias
Peters h , James D. Ramsden l , Helmut Sachs , Andrew Simpson , Mandeep
S. Singh , Barbara Wilhelm , David Wong , Eberhart Zrenner(2015) .
Subretinal Visual Implant Alpha IMS. Vision Research
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