Restoring Vision With Bionic Eyes Is No Longer Science Fiction

Bionic vision might sound like science fiction, but Dr. Michael Beyeler is working on just that.

- S.C. Stuart

Originally from Switzerland, Dr. Beyeler is wrapping up his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington before moving to the University of California Santa Barbara this fall to head up the newly formed Bionic Vision Lab in the Departments of Computer Science and Psychological & Brain Sciences.

We spoke with him about this “deep fascination with the brain” and how he hopes his work will eventually be able to restore vision to the blind. Here are edited and condensed excerpts from our conversation.

PCMag: Dr. Beyeler, give us an overview of the ‘neural engineering’ field that will lead to bionic sight in the future.

Dr. Michael Beyeler: Neuroengineering is an emerging interdisciplinary field aiming to engineer devices that can interface with the brain. Kind of like the brain implants from Black Mirror but much less creepy. [Laughs]

The human brain has roughly 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons, and trillions of connections between them, organized into different brain areas each supporting a particular task; for example, processing visual or auditory information, making decisions, or getting from A to B. You can imagine that understanding how these neural circuits give rise to perception and action requires bringing together skills from a variety of disciplines, such as neuroscience, engineering, computer science, and statistics.

Explain how these BMIs [brain-machine interfaces] work in your field. I’ve tested them for mood elevation but not connected to visual states.