Future
Goals of Technology
The bionic eye will hopefully be able to see at or beyond the level of visibility of a real eye. The bionic eye could be made to be more effective than the human eye with more technological advances. Yet with only current day technology, we only hope to make the bionic eye as efficient as it can possibly be, which may be inferior to the real human eye in some respects. Our goal is to get the bionic eye to be capable of seeing something at a distance of 20 meters or more that a regular eye would see at 20 meters away, thus granting it at least 20/20 vision. The possibilities for bionic eye are extensive, and some day, the bionic eye could be considered superior to the human eye. An improved power source would greatly increase the effectiveness of the bionic eye and its long term use. Even if the limit to bionic eye technology is 20/20 vision, it will surpass the capabilities of the real eye since the bionic eye is immune to diseases and will last the entire lifetime of the user.
Necessary Advances
There are many progressions we must make in order to solve the problems of the bionic eye.
There might be limited data sent to the brain by the bionic eye through its electrodes due to weak neurological capabilities. An eye with 1,000 electrodes can recognize faces and one with 16 or 60 can identify regular objects and allow the user to see where they're going. Therefore, for data to be successfully transmitted to the brain, about 3,000 efficient electrodes are required.
Nickel-63 is very difficult to obtain, so it would be difficult to make many bionic eyes. We would either need a larger amount of nickel-63, or we would need an alternative.
Also, scientists are uncertain about whether or not the brain will process the images from the bionic eye, and if the brain will be able to comprehend the images sent by the electrodes. Again, the brain will consume the data efficiently if there are many electrodes to send data through the optic nerve to the brain. The brain will also need a few months to get used to accepting the data from the bionic eye, according to British doctors.[1]
Current Technology Problems
There are several obstacles which point to the use of the bionic eye as a solution to poor eyesight in comparison to present day technology.
Firstly, this artificial eye cannot grant a blind person perfect vision because the technology to perfectly replicate the cones and rods of the eye has not yet been developed. The technology to perform such a task would require at least another decade to create.
Secondly, a major obstacle towards granting vision to someone afflicted with born blindness would be the lack of neurological stimulation in the visual cortex of the brain because the person would lack the neurological capabilities to process the data transmitted through the electrodes. There would be weak unstimulated neurons in the visual cortex area of the brain, meaning the data wouldn't be fully processed. This problem would make even the most developed bionic eye useless to an individual lacking the neurological connections needed. Until further scientific progress towards neurotechnology is made, the bionic eye will be limited in its ability to give vision to people born blind.
Thirdly, the difficulty of procuring nickel-63 would make mass production of the bionic eye difficult. Until modern technology reaches the point where a long lasting source of power can be found in mass and be produced inexpensively, the cost of the bionic eye would be high.
Finally, scientists are still unsure of the brain's response to information provided by an artificial eye. Some scientists believe the brain will be unable to process the electrical signals from the electrodes, or will have difficulty in adapting to the signals. Without more testing, this obstacle could prove to be difficult to overcome during this point in time.