Bionic humans may be a popular figure of speech of science fiction , but research at the University of California San Diego has fetch us one whole step closer to machine - enhanced vision , Cyborg - style .
compose in the journalAdvanced Functional Materials , a team of soft material mechanic direct by Shengqiang Cai trace the skill behind a automatic genus Lens designed in a proof - of - conception exercise . Blink twice to zoom along in . Repeat to zoom back out . Turn your eye to the unexpended ( or right ) and the lens will keep an eye on .
The new lens bosom the strengths of voiced robots ( or voiced auto ) . These are automaton made of highly compliant textile that mimick the conduct of living things . For example , you might have a voiced fascinating motorcar that can grasp physical object as fragile as a in the altogether egg – a project that would be more thought-provoking for a schematic gripper made of a harder material . In this instance , the balmy golem mimics some of the mechanisms of the human eye .
According to the report authors , most soft robots are controlled manually or using pre - compose code , but the robotic lens is different . It uses a novel human - machine interface controlled by oculus movements and the electrooculographic sign that are raise as a result .
Even when your centre is at residuum , a stiff electrical potential difference survive between the cornea and Bruch ’s membrane . This electric potential drop can be measured whenever you move your middle or winking , and it is these measurements that manipulate the robotic lens .
The lens itself is made out of salty water ( or saline ) , which is encased in two electroactive polymer films and is controlled by five electrode lay around the eyes that detect the eyes ' electrical potentiality . This allows the genus Lens to expand and concentrate in heaviness if and when an electrical potential is observe , effectively allowing the user to zoom in and out just by blinking . And because the lens is made from soft materials , the relative modification of focal duration may be as gravid as 32 percentage – which make for a pretty telling zoom feature .
The design has n’t been fully perfect – in its current material body , it can not move diagonally , only vertically and horizontally , for example . It can also be vulnerable to errors in movement recognition , which can result in body process beyond what the user intend ( or nothing at all ) . But its potential is exciting . Because the electrical potential be without visual sense , it could one day be used as a optic prosthesis , as well as in adjustable trash or remotely - operated robotics .
