Eyeborg Project: An Exciting and Creepy Hack I Hope You Never Try
It goes without saying that experimenting with your eyesight is neither the easiest hack in the world or the safest, but apparently a few brave souls out there are driven to take it on regardless. The Eyeborg Project is the brainchild of one of those.
Canadian filmmaker Rob Spence is blind in one eye from a firearms accident when a child. You may have seen him featured in Wired late last year. With some colleagues he has taken on the challenge of implanting wireless video camera inside his prosthetic, giving him the ability to make movies wherever he is just by looking around; all pretty much on no budget. Sounds like the perfect fit, so to speak, for a filmmaker. Unlike others pursuing similar goals, Spence is not hoping to regain his sight in that eye by connection the camera to his brain, just -- and this by no means is meant to minimize the goals of the project -- to implant a camera. Yeah it worked for Steve Austin so no big deal, right? So far he has been unsuccessful both in getting it to safely work, or to get sufficient funding. This is interesting and of course a little creepy, stuff though. If he ever does get it to work though, how fast do you think the offers will pour in for funding, a complete buyout of the technology and movie offers for he to consult on a high tech version of "Eyes of Laura Mars?" Can you say "instantly?" Good luck to him on all that. In the meantime check out the video he recently put out regarding the project. It is chock full of Six-Million Dollar man references and a few to the family Skywalker and Neo. It also has some fairly graphic eye surgery footage. Enjoy, but don't try this one at home.
--Tom Milnes
Matthew on March 07, 2009 at 10:53 AM
Shades of Death Watch.