The Argus II retinal implant is like a cochlear implant for the blind.

It looks like computing goggles such as Google Glass, but it sends the images the eyeglass-mounted visual processing unit detects to a tiny electrode array that’s been implanted in the user’s retina. Electrical stimulation sends visual information up the optic nerve to the visual cortex of the user’s brain, allowing him or her to see.

The device, made by California-based Second Sight with support from the Department of Energy, will become medically available in the United States for patients blinded by retinitis pigmentosa, or RP, a degenerative eye disease.

Via Singularity Hub.