THE man who invented the Cybermen robots in the "Dr. Who" BBC TV series is working on building an artificial "eye" which will enable computers to see.
He is Dr. Kit Pedlar, who is working on the project at the University of Manitoba in Canada.
His aim is to perfect a completely artificial retina. In humans, the retina is the sensitive area at the back of the eye that picks up signals from the lens and passes them to the brain.
He told the meeting: "Recent research has shown that much or the work of perception that was believed to be done by the brain is really done in the retina."
The artificial retina he is building is only one-and-one-eighth of an inch across and is much simpler than a human retina.
It is being programmed to recognise thirty shapes.
Dr. Pedlar said: "There is no way of knowing where this sort of research could lead. But its obvious application is to give computers the ability to read print or even handwriting."
Spelling correction: Dr. Kit Pedler
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