Russian specialists at the ‘Sensor-Tekh’ laboratory and the Foundation For the Support of the Deaf and Blind – ‘So-edinenie’ have developed the first Russian neural brain implant that will give sight to those who lost it or were born without it. The device was presented at Moscow’s Skolkovo innovation center in late June 2021.

The device was given the name ‘ELVIS’ (short for “electronic vision”). Visually, it resembles headgear from the videogame ‘Cyberpunk 2077’, or something out of ‘Star Wars: The Old Republic’. It is worn on the head and gives the user increased abilities. 

And real life really is catching up to science fiction: doctors surgically implant the device into the cerebral cortex, using electrodes to connect it to the parts responsible for vision. Following several months, the patient is given a headband with a camera, which transmits the picture directly into the brain, circumventing the eye. The implant gives back vision both to those who lost it and those born without it.