U of M researchers are closer to creating a “bionic eye” that could one day help blind people see and allow sighted people to see better.

Led by Michael McAlpine, Benjamin Mayhugh Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, the team 3-D printed an array of light receptors on a hemispherical glass dome. The work was funded in part by The Boeing Co. 

Next up: building a prototype with more light receptors that are more efficient and printing on a material that can be implanted in the eye.

“Bionic eyes are usually thought of as science fiction, but now we are closer than ever,” McAlpine says. 

Watch how the prototype was built: