Over the years there has been intensive research on visual prosthesis around the world and significant technological advancements have been made. The Intracortical Visual Prosthesis Team (IVP) at... Show moreOver the years there has been intensive research on visual prosthesis around the world and significant technological advancements have been made. The Intracortical Visual Prosthesis Team (IVP) at IIT has been researching and developing a procedure as well as a device which will be implanted within the human visual cortex. The device consists of sub-miniature electrodes which will artificially stimulate the visual cortex by introducing electrical currents in to the cortex. The IIT Team has reached a point in their 10 year development process where they would like to proceed with implanting the device in a volunteer in the next few years. Implantation of a device which provides artificial vision is an extraordinarily complex process. In the initial stages the medical and engineering aspects are the most prevalent ones, but as the project moves forward there are some questions that inevitably must be answered or at least considered. These questions deal much less with the technology and much more with the volunteers that will eventually have these complex devices implanted. To try and answer some of these questions, in IPRO 306 we will look into various medical, political, engineering, ethical, media and psychological issues that we believe may become of greater importance as the project progresses into the implementation stage. We will also look into the public relations aspect as well as some political and psychological issues. Based on our research and understanding we will provide several issues that we see as needing to be addressed in the future and recommend possible solutions to them. Show less
