New study reveals an uncanny image-capturing device that mimics the human eye

How does the bio-inspired artificial eye work?

To understand the working mechanism of an artificial eye, you first need to know how the real human eye enables us to see things. Your eyes have a layer of light-sensitive tissues called a retina. All objects you see emit light that enters your eyes and falls on that retina.

The retina is composed of cone cells that convert the light from an object into electrical signals. The optic nerve behind the retina takes these signals to the brain, a large neural network that processes the electrical signals and finally generates the image that you see.

The device from the PSU team works in almost the same exact fashion but uses artificial components. Light enters the device through a lens, which is then captured by narrowband perovskite photoreceptors. These cells focus on different parts (RBG) of the spectrum that makes up the light and converts it into electrical signals. 

"In this work, we found a novel way to design perovskite material that is sensitive to only one wavelength of light. We created three different perovskite materials, and they are designed in a way that they can only be sensitive to red, green, or blue colors," said Wang.

From perovskite cells, the light reaches the artificial neural network that employs neuromorphic algorithms — special computer programs that are capable of mimicking the human brain’s ability to turn electrical signals into images. Finally, the device produces the image of the object.

The device brings us closer to artificial eye cells

Interestingly, the perovskite photoreceptors used in the device shares functional and structural similarities with the perovskite cells used in solar panels. So when these cells are capturing light, they are also producing power for the device at the same time. 

"The device structure is similar to solar cells that use light to generate electricity. Once you shine a light on it, it will generate a current. So like our eyes, we don't need to apply energy to capture this information from light," said Luyao Zheng, one of the study authors and a researcher at PSU.

This is why the image-capturing system is able to function even without a battery and might also lead to the development of self-powering cameras in the future. 

Moreover, the study authors claim that the artificial components of their device also hint at the possibility of artificial retinas and synthetic eye cells for treating vision-loss-related problems in humans. 

However, further research is required to turn these exciting possibilities into a reality. Hopefully, the bio-inspired image-capturing device will turn out to be a groundbreaking innovation.

The study has been published in the journal Science Advances.