Twenty four year old L/Cpl Craig Lundberg lost his vision in 2007 in Basra, Iraq due to a rocket propelled grenade. After returning back home, he was approached by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to trial the BrainPort device, a machine that recognizes visual images and converts them into electrical impulses that are then transferred to the users tongue.

The gadget consists of a small video camera attached to a pair of sunglasses that the operator would wear. The camera is linked to a plastic ‘lolly pop’ that the operator would place on his tongue. Video images captured by the camera are converted to digital signals which are then applied to various parts of the tongue. Currently in the prototype stage, the machine is capable of sending signals to 400 different points on the tongue, but as the equipment improves, the number should go up ten fold to 4000 different points.

So far, L/Cpl Lundberg relates the experience of using the BrainPort device to “licking a nine volt battery or like popping candy” but that the “potential to change my life is massive.” The BrainPort has a cost of £18,000 which includes the machine and the necessary training to go along with it. The device offers a two dimensional black and white view of the operators surroundings and their are plans to fix the mouthpiece behind the teeth or on the roof of the mouth to give it a more natural feel.

Via: Geeky Gadgets, BBC