Could bionic eye end blindness?
But now, a limited form of artificial vision is a reality -- one some say is one of the greatest triumphs in medical history.
"We are now at a watershed," Joseph Lazzaro, author of "Adaptive Technologies for Learning and Work Environments," told CNN. "We are at the beginning of the end of blindness with this type of technology."
Any scientific advance would have broad implications. According to statistics from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., 1.1 million people in the United States are legally blind, while worldwide 42 million people are without sight.
The Dobelle Institute is among several institutions trying in essence to create a new cornea through technology. The cornea allows light into the interior of the eye.
Dobelle is using a digital video camera mounted on glasses to capture an image and send it to a small computer on the patient's belt: The images are processed and sent to electrodes implanted in the patient's visual cortex. The electrodes stimulate the brain, producing a pattern of bright spots that form an image.
"With this device, you don't lose anything. You actually have a fifth sense restored, and that is what I just absolutely adore with this device," said one of the first eight implant patients to test the technology, a man who asked to be identified only as Jens.
"You are no longer blind. You might be blind to some objects, some situations, but you are not totally blind anymore," he said.
A Canadian farmer and father of eight, Jens lost his sight 18 years ago in an accident. Now he's able to navigate through rooms, find doors and even drive a car to some degree.
"I was able to very carefully drive and look from my left side to my right side, making sure I was between this row of trees on the right and the building on my left," he says. "When I got near any obstruction, I would see that there was an obstruction. I would also see the lack of obstructions, knowing I wasn't going to run over anybody ... It was a very nice feeling."