Researchers University of Illinois and Northwestern University have developed a high-performance, hemispherical “eye” camera using an array of single-crystalline silicon detectors and electronics, configured in a stretchable, interconnected mesh.

Photo courtesy John Rogers
Photograph of the electronic eye camera after integration with a transparent hemispherical cap and a simple, single component imaging lens.

According to their University news.

The work opens new possibilities for advanced camera design. It also foreshadows artificial retinas for bionic eyes similar in concept to those in the movie “Terminator” and other popular science fiction.

“Conformally wrapping surfaces with stretchable sheets of optoelectronics provides a practical route for integrating well-developed planar device technologies onto complex curvilinear objects,” said John Rogers, the Flory-Founder Chair Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Illinois, and corresponding author of the paper.

“This approach allows us to put electronics in places where we couldn’t before,” Rogers said. “We can now, for the first time, move device design beyond the flatland constraints of conventional wafer-based systems.

The design patterns on that of the human eye enabling a clear picture on all angles when use to take pictures.

Photo courtesy John Rogers

Schematic illustration of steps for using compressible silicon focal plane arrays and hemispherical, elastomeric transfer elements to fabricate electronic eye cameras.