Eyeborg: man replaces eye with camera By Tom Chivers
Published: 4:45PM BST 01 Jul 2010
A Canadian man has replaced his own false eye with a camera-eye of his own invention - and will let the world see what he sees via a live video link.
Code: Select All
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/technology-video/7866276/Eyeborg-Canadian-man-fits-camera-into-false-eye.html
The eye contains a wireless video camera that runs on a tiny three-volt battery. It is not connected to his brain, and has not restored his vision. Instead it records everything that he sees.
More than that, it contains a wireless transmitter, which allows him to transmit what he is seeing in real time to a computer.
The current model is low resolution, and the transmitter is weak, meaning that Mr Spence has to hold a receiving antenna to his cheek to get a full signal. But a new higher-resolution model, complete with stronger transmitter and a booster on the receiver, is in the works. He says: "Unlike you humans, I can continue to upgrade."
The eye was built with the help of Steve Mann, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an expert in "cyborg" technology - the blending of natural and artificial systems with technology.
Mr Spence also has a version with a red LED light in the eye, like the robot from the Terminator films.
As a film-maker, Mr Spence wants to use the camera to record "truer" conversations than would be possible with a handheld camera. "When you bring a camera, people change," he says. "I wouldn't be disarming at all. I would just be some dude. It's a much truer conversation."
His subjects would only become aware that they were being filmed after the conversation was over. Then he would give them a chance to sign, or not sign, a release form permitting him to use the footage.
He says: "There's ethical issues with that, but I am a filmmaker.
"If you're averse to it, that's fine, don't sign the release form. I won't put you in the documentary."
= 
