The Argus II bionic eye and the Alpha IMS are two of the ways that blind people can now see. The Argus II is like a cochlear implant that looks like the Google Glass, only signals are sent to electrodes that are implanted in the retina of the owner. The Argus II currently has 60 electrodes and the planned Argus III will have 240. The Argus II will cost about $115,000 and it will work for people with retina related blindness. Cameras from the glasses will send signals to the electrodes that will then give the patients a black and white view of everything and allow them to get an overall sense of their surroundings.
The Alpha IMS is newer and allows an even larger range of activities it can do, however, it has not finished testing, and the population of blind people that will be helped will be less. However the Alpha is quite extraordinary. It will place 1,500 electrodes on the retina. The test subjects for the Alpha IMS have been able to see facial expressions, houses, and horizon lines. However, do know that the Alpha IMS only treats blindness that is associated with light processing.
To find out more about the Alpha IMS, click here.