Technology Review reports on work by the Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) in Singapore to use the entire volume of the lens to contain the dye:

Conventional transition sunglasses are coated with millions of molecules of photochromic dyes, which are transparent when out of the sun. These molecules change shape when UV light hits, enabling them to absorb UV light and triggering the darkening of the lens. When UV light disappears, the molecules change back to their original shape and transparent appearance.

Few previous attempts have been made to design transition contact lenses, largely because it's difficult to apply dye coatings uniformly to the delicate, soft surface of a contact lens. Ying and her colleagues got around this by developing a contact lens that embeds dyes uniformly throughout the material. This approach allowed them to pack more dye molecules into the material, Ying says, giving the contact lens greater sensitivity to light and thus a faster response.

Researchers created the spongy nanostructure material by mixing specific combinations of water, an oil solution with monomers commonly used in contact lenses, and a novel surfactant-- a compound that encourages mixing between water and oil solutions. The resulting material is studded with tiny pores and tunnels, which can be loaded with agents such as UV-sensitive dyes.

Read on at Technology Review...

CYCLOPS's camera is gimballed, which means it can emulate left-to-right and up-and-down head movements. The input from the camera runs through the onboard computing platform, which does real-time image processing. For now, however, the platform itself is moved around remotely, via a joystick. “The platform can be operated from anywhere in the world, through its wireless Internet connection,” says Tarbell [Mark Tarbell, Caltech visiting scientist --ed.].

"We have the image-processing algorithms running locally on the robot's platform—but we have to get it to the point where it has complete control of its own responses," Fink [Wolfgang Fink, visiting associate in physics at Caltech] says.

Once that's done, he adds, "we can run many, many tests without bothering the blind prosthesis carriers."

Among the things they hope to learn from such testing is how to enhance a workplace or living environment to make it more accessible to a blind person with a particular vision implant. If CYCLOPS can use computer-enhanced images from a 50-pixel array to make its way safely through a room with a chair in one corner, a sofa along the wall, and a coffee table in the middle, then there is a good chance that a blind person with a 50-pixel retinal prosthesis would be able to do the same.

The results of tests on the CYCLOPS robot should also help researchers determine whether a particular version of a prosthesis, say, or its onboard image-processing software, are even worth testing in blind persons. "We'll be coming in with a much more educated initial starting point, after which we'll be able to see how blind people work with these implants," Fink notes.

Full story from Caltech: Caltech Scientists Create Robot Surrogate for Blind Persons in Testing Visual Prostheses...

Abstract in Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine: CYCLOPS: A mobile robotic platform for testing and validating image processing and autonomous navigation algorithms in support of artificial vision prostheses

The implant works in conjunction with a specially designed set of glasses that have an embedded camera that wirelessly transmits power and image signals to the microchip in the retina which then transmits the signals to the brain. The microchip has receiving coils that surround the eyeball, much like a natural retina. The microchip itself is sealed in a titanium case to avoid corrosion. The chip will receive visual signals from the glasses which activate the electrodes, which in turn fire nerve cells to carry visual input to the brain. The microchip will not restore vision to a perfect standing, but is intended to help a blind patients navigate.

The following is taken from an MIT press office statement:

One question that remains is what kind of vision this direct electrical stimulation actually produces. About 10 years ago, the research team started to answer that by attaching electrodes to the retinas of six blind patients for several hours.

When the electrodes were activated, patients reported seeing a small number of "clouds" or "drops of blood" in their field of vision, and the number of clouds or blood drops they reported corresponded to the number of electrodes that were stimulated. When there was no stimulus, patients accurately reported seeing nothing. Those tests confirmed that retinal stimulation can produce some kind of organized vision in blind patients, though further testing is needed to determine how useful that vision can be.

After those initial tests, with grants from the Boston Veteran's Administration Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health, the researchers started to build an implantable chip, which would allow them to do more long-term tests. Their goal is to produce a chip that can be implanted for at least 10 years.

One of the biggest challenges the researchers face is designing a surgical procedure and implant that won't damage the eye. In their initial prototypes, the electrodes were attached directly atop the retina from inside the eye, which carries more risk of damaging the delicate retina. In the latest version, described in the October issue of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, the implant is attached to the outside of the eye, and the electrodes are implanted behind the retina...

While they have not yet begun any long-term tests on humans, the researchers have tested the device in Yucatan miniature pigs, which have roughly the same size eyeballs as humans. Those tests are only meant to determine whether the implants remain functional and safe and are not designed to observe whether the pigs respond to stimuli to their optic nerves.

So far, the prototypes have been successfully implanted in pigs for up to 10 months, but further safety refinements need to be made before clinical trials in humans can begin.

Press release: Stimulating sight...

MIT Research Lab: Retinal Implant Research Group...

Flashback : Experimental Bionic Eyes Give Hope to Totally Blind

Link @ TED: Josh Silver demos adjustable liquid-filled eyeglasses

Flashback: TruFocals Offer New Option For Presbyopic Eyes

From the article:

The glucose detectors we’re evaluating now are a mere glimmer of what will be possible in the next 5 to 10 years. Contact lenses are worn daily by more than a hundred million people, and they are one of the only disposable, mass-market products that remain in contact, through fluids, with the interior of the body for an extended period of time. When you get a blood test, your doctor is probably measuring many of the same biomarkers that are found in the live cells on the surface of your eye—and in concentrations that correlate closely with the levels in your bloodstream. An appropriately configured contact lens could monitor cholesterol, sodium, and potassium levels, to name a few potential targets. Coupled with a wireless data transmitter, the lens could relay information to medics or nurses instantly, without needles or laboratory chemistry, and with a much lower chance of mix-ups.

Three fundamental challenges stand in the way of building a multipurpose contact lens. First, the processes for making many of the lens’s parts and subsystems are incompatible with one another and with the fragile polymer of the lens. To get around this problem, my colleagues and I make all our devices from scratch. To fabricate the components for silicon circuits and LEDs, we use high temperatures and corrosive chemicals, which means we can’t manufacture them directly onto a lens. That leads to the second challenge, which is that all the key components of the lens need to be miniaturized and integrated onto about 1.5 square centimeters of a flexible, transparent polymer. We haven’t fully solved that problem yet, but we have so far developed our own specialized assembly process, which enables us to integrate several different kinds of components onto a lens. Last but not least, the whole contraption needs to be completely safe for the eye. Take an LED, for example. Most red LEDs are made of aluminum gallium arsenide, which is toxic. So before an LED can go into the eye, it must be enveloped in a biocompatible substance.

Link @ IEEE Spectrum: Augmented Reality in a Contact Lens...

Side image: One lens prototype [top] has several interconnects, single-crystal silicon components, and compound-semiconductor components embedded within. Another sample lens [bottom] contains a radio chip, an antenna, and a red LED

Flashback: Electronic Contact Lenses for Better Vision

Here's Stephen Kurtin presenting the TruFocals:

Product page: TruFocals...

Review of TruFocals by John Markoff at the New York Times...

Flashback: Water Power in Developing World to Cure Poor Eyesight

Triggerfish system components:

Sensor: Soft, hydrophilic silicone disposable contact lens embedding a MEMS sensor and a telemetry microprocessor. The sensor comes in three different base curves. All elements embedded in the lens are excentric, out of the line of sight.

Antenna and datacable: A circular antenna taped around the eye which sends energy to the sensor and receives the measurement information. The antenna is connected to the portable recorder through a thin flexible datacable.

Recorder: A battery powered recorder which will store measurement information and wirelessly upload this information on the ophthalmologist's computer at the end of the monitoring session.

Software: The software running on the ophthalmologist's computer to retrieve and to visualize the intraocular pressure profile.

Product page: SENSIMED Triggerfish...

Link: Mass Device interview with CEO of Sensimed AG...

Flashbacks: Sensimed Technology: Noninvasive Intraocular Pressure Monitoring with a Contact Lens; Pressure Sensing Contact Lenses May Provide Continuous Glaucoma Monitoring

From the product page:

The prosthetic telescope, together with the cornea, acts as a telephoto system to enlarge images 3X or 2.2X, depending on the device model used. The telephoto effect allows images in the central visual field ('straight ahead vision') to not be focused directly on the damaged macula, but over other healthy areas of the central and peripheral retina. This generally helps reduce the 'blind spot' impairing vision in patients with AMD, hopefully improving their ability to recognize images that were either difficult or impossible to see.

The prosthetic telescope is implanted by an ophthalmic surgeon in an outpatient surgical procedure. The device is implanted in one eye, which provides central vision as described above, while the non-implanted eye provides peripheral vision for mobility and navigation. After the surgical procedure, the patient participates in a structured vision rehabilitation program to maximize their ability to perform daily activities. Situated in the eye, the device allows patients to use natural eye movements to scan the environment and reading materials.

Press release: FDA Advisory Panel Recommends Approval of VisionCare's Implantable Telescope for End-Stage Macular Degeneration

VisionCare technology page...

Flashbacks: VisionCare's Micro-telescope Prosthesis Close to FDA Approval; The Implantable Miniature Telescope...

Some features from the product page:

Excess moisture is wicked away from your skin to keep you dry and cool, no matter what you’re doing.

Scrubs shouldn't leave you feeling restricted or confined. Endura™ scrubs move with your body and help maximize your gait and pace. In addition, the Maximum-Motion™ sleeve allows your shirt to stay tucked in even when you reach and stretch.

Our advanced, synthetic material is breathable, flexible and helps control your heat index and perspiration.

Our scrubs offer a shirt pocket and two side flanking pant pockets to tuck away the important things you want to keep close. The deep side pockets in our pants are angled to keep items in, whether you're sitting or standing.

The smooth fabric of Endura™ scrubs feels natural and soft on the skin.

People aren’t rectangular. So instead of making our scrubs rectangular, we looked at the actual dimensions of thousands of healthcare workers. The cut of our scrubs follows the natural line of your body and gets rid of the bulky feel and appearance of traditional scrubs.

A unique snap system allows you to customize pants length and avoid tripping, falling or slipping. Elastic on the waistband, in addition to a drawstring, helps position pants where you want them.

Strategically placed ventilation zones across the middle of the back and behind the knee keep you dry and comfortable.

Even after 90 washes, EnduraT scrubs are still going strong. Stronger than a brand-new pair of the top-selling traditional scrubs, in fact*. You'll also notice minimal color loss and lasting moisture-wicking abilities. The competitor's scrubs, on the other hand, typically only last 50 washes.

The top-selling traditional scrubs lose 15% lint when abraded. EnduraT scrubs lose only 1.4%, making them the lowest linting scrub on the market.

Made of the strongest material on the market, EnduraT scrubs outlast the competition. Our advanced, synthetic material is abrasion- and tear-resistant and has the most uniform strength in both directions.

EnduraT scrubs can be washed at cooler temperatures and dry faster than traditional scrubs. This requires less energy and can result in savings to your hospital.

Product page: Endura™ Performance Apparel

Press release: Cardinal Health launches new products for the operating room

Here's an explanation of the system from BBC:

More from the BBC...

Flashbacks: Argus II Retinal Prosthesis Implanted Into First Two Patients in Europe; Second Sight Medical Retinal Prosthesis Receives FDA Approval for Clinical Trials ; Second Sight Implant: Positive Results Reported in the Study; Diamond Coating for Second Sight Implant