We propose to develop and evaluate the utility of advanced object recognition algorithms to control the information provided to retinal prosthetic patients. Retinal prostheses restore partial vision to people blinded by outer retinal degenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP) or macular degeneration. The Argus II retinal prosthesis system is intended to provide electrical stimulation of the retina to elicit visual perception in blind individuals with severe to profound retinitis pigmentosa. The implanted epiretinal array provides a grid of electrodes. Electrical pulses at these sites stimulate the retina's remaining cells and result in the perception of patterns of light in the brain. Ordinary light and color information is difficult for wearers to effectively process in many important tasks with the limited perceived spatial resolution. Current compensation techniques in reduced resolution systems apply enhancement, magnification, and panning of visible light imagery, and these techniques have utility to retinal implants. However, other information sources, such as information provided from image processing performed on the visible light imagery obtained by the prosthesis camera, may more naturally align to the limited resolution of retinal arrays and improve the utility of the system in important tasks such as object finding. The proposed project seeks to provide object recognition as a feature in a retinal implant system. Users will be able to direct an object recognition application to find a desired object in the field of view of the head-mounted camera, and to direct the user's view towards it through the presentation of a recognizable icon. A prototype system will be developed and evaluated in human subjects in phase I. A full system implementation and trial will be completed in phase II.
The proposed project relates to the utilization object recognition in a retinal prosthetic. Retinal prostheses aim to help people who have lost their vision due to degenerative eye conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa or macular degeneration to perceive shapes and movement, to become more mobile, or to perform other day-to- day activities.
