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California Artist Wants to Replace Lost Eyeball with Webcam

Aug. 2, 2011 9:51am Jessie Abrams

When Tanya Vlach lost her left eye in a horrific 2005 car accident, she had to come up with a new way to continue her work as a popular visual artist in San Francisco.

She did, and she came up with something pretty revolutionary.

Vlach wants to turn her new prosthetic eye into a tiny video camera. The idea itself isn’t all that new. Television shows and films have used the concept multiple times, but Vlach’s version goes above and beyond anything imagined before.

The eye would function normally in many ways, but it would have many special effects. It would have a facial recognition feature. She’d also like it to have sensors that respond to blinking, enabling the camera to take still photographs, zoom, focus and turn on and off. Her dream is to make it web optimised, perhaps with its own app, so movement could be controlled externally.

If successful, Vlach’s experiment may have applications beyond artists and others seeking to see their lives a little differently. The technology could be useful to everyone from members of the military to personal shoppers.

But these kind of dreams don’t come cheap. She’s already raised at least $15,000, according to a report from the Daily Mail. Under a “Call For Engineers” banner on her blog, Vlach asks for financial support as well as someone to help construct the actual devise. In a posting from July 9, she writes that she’s made it 30 percent of the way to her fundraising goal, and since she’s still less than halfway there she encourages people to support her dreams through her Grow A New Eye Kickstarter Campaign.

Here’s a video that Vlach put together about her project and the way she sees it:

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Comments (72)

affinnity
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 11:41am
Why are creative people so weird?

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- Bloody Sam
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 11:45am
  The camaera is not responsible for all the functionality she wants. It’s the processor behind it that does all that. In humans, we call it a ‘brain’.
  Does she want a computer processor to do all that for her second eye? Fine. Will she be wearing this new CPU in a back pack or a purse 24×7? And how does she suppose she’ll get that new CPU to interface with her primary processor…the brain? Effin Sci-Fi man.
  
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- smithclar3nc3
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 12:03pm
  How is this ny different than duct taping a camera to your head. I mean other than the handy little hole an eye socket gives you hide the camera…..nothing orginal just someone wanting to do something weird to their body.
  
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- Jaycen
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 12:40pm
  There’s also the big question regarding power consumption. Where will she stick the battery pack?
  
  What about video storage? A transmitter to a remote device is bulky, limits range, and has a host of other issues. If she carries storage on her, where will that go?
  
  I think she’s going to need to wait a few more years before this is practical, especially with all the extra gimicks she wants.
  
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- STRINGS
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 2:46pm
  Okay so here the deal, I lost one of my nutz do do marriage and now I want you all to send me money so I can replace my lost nut with a motorized wheel, the wheel must be compact and when dropped down and engaged should reach a top speed of 45 mph, it also must be green friendly, so if it can be powered by grease from fast food ( back up solar power would be nice also )
  I will be coming out with a video promo soon, thanks
  
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- Dustyluv
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 3:08pm
  I want to replace my lost wallet with a gold bar….
  
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- banjarmon
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 4:07pm
  If she drops it …Will some man catch her EYE??
  
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- yougottabekidding
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 4:24pm
  You mean to tell me Boxer or someone equally as qualified hasn’t moved to have The National Endowment for the Arts (you and me) pay for this?
  There is a difference between helping a nonsighted person see and a web cam
  
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- jollylama
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 5:09pm
  ok Mr Jobs.. You’ve invented the iPhone, the iPod and the iPad.. now get crackin’ on the eyeCamera – stat!
  
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- Sheepdog911
  Posted on August 4, 2011 at 6:11am
  Wow, instant photographic memory. Please tell me what is so creative about walking around with a webcam in your face. Nothing. Creativity actually involves more than being able to see what you or someone else is looking at. This is about as artisic or creative as someone living in a glass room in a public location and calling it art.
  
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nappy
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 11:30am
THERE IS NOTHING HERE! NO real “IDEA”. You can plant a cash register in a human brain but that doesn’t make someone rich. Without a real connection to the brain this is a piece of odd jewelry.

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Cheetosareus
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 11:29am
Unless this eye camera is attached to her brain she won’t actually be “seeing”. I wonder if she still has a functioning optic nerve.

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HD Veteran
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 11:20am
Creative, even for a likely lib.

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Lone Ranger
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 11:18am
Gentlemen, we can rebuild her. We have the technology. We have the ability to make the world’s first bionic woman. Tanya Vlach will be that woman. Better than she was before. Better. Stronger. Faster.

Oh, and touch up her boobs while you’re at it. Perky, gentlemen. Think, perky.

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It is their RIGHT, it is their DUTY...
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 11:12am
Come on everybody together now! …… WEIRDO !!

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- loriann12
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 12:16pm
  Can’t you just see other “artists” lining up to have an eye removed electively and replaced with a web cam?
  
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- southerngal
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 5:23pm
  how about a new hand or arm.. considering some of the “artistic” crap out there its not a bad idea
  
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Alvin691
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 11:01am
Anyone else think she is hot with the eye patch?

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- TheLascone
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 11:08am
  As an artist my biggest fear has been blindness. But now I finally SEE a way out if that happens !
  
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- vtxphantom
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 11:17am
  She should keep the eye patch. Then she could get the parrot for the shoulder, and a sword on the hip, arrgh.
  
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nysparkie
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:54am
Maybe he can put a server in the other eye and broadcast live while he is stumbling around. Cool!

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LOOKING_BOTH_WAYS
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:50am
Just think of the possibilities, there could be a whole new meaning to a “” Private Eye ” She could be a spy

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Captain Crunch
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:49am
Lets see a cop tell her to turn her camera off. LOL

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- THX-1138
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 4:55pm
  Now you’re catching on…
  
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RebelSon
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:43am
I hope they get this into production soon. I’ll keep an eye out for it.

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This_Individual
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:43am
That could get pretty kinky when love making occurs.

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Hephzibah
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:34am
I need that “facial recognition” feature, especially if they can put in my head a name to go with it.

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ConservDadASD
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:29am
Another undesirable application: Tabloid Reporters who are good in sneaking into places they don’t belong.

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ConservDadASD
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:24am
Bond: And what does this thing do?

Q: Well Mr. Bond, this is actually an ocular prostesis that helps you to not only to see with a 20-10 vision, but it also takes still pictures and videos which are immediately transmitted back to this base, and it acts as a lazer that shoots out intense beams that can last up to 3 minutes before it needs to recharge for an hour. And for self-defense situations, it can burn a hole in a human heart in less than 5 seconds.

Q: Let’s just say that if you keep your eye on the task, it will only take a minute. And you can literally give someone the evil eye.

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- BOMUSTGO
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 11:32am
  If looks could kill?
  
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llotus
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:22am
This could be good. If they like the one, the greedy ********will go for two. Lotus.

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GayDem4Beck
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:19am
I wonder how this would be impacted by the various Federal/State Wire Tapping laws. Not to mention invasion of privacy. Imagine being at a spa, beach resort, even bathroom and someone unknowing to you taking unwanted images of you an streaming them on the internet.

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- Servant Of YHVH
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 11:28am
  This is what I was wondering too!
  
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- chips1
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 12:08pm
  There goes her sex life. Back to the two ****** theory.
  
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ConservDadASD
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:11am
Ideas like this to start out nice and with great potential. But how long before it ends up with a giant cube transmitting the words: “Resistance is futile… we will add your cultural and technological distinctiveness to our own.”

Well maybe not that far, but this technology does have possible governmental & industrial espionage potential.

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- biohazard23
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:15am
  Maybe she can change her name to Seven of Nine.
  
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- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:34am
  Maybe it will cost 6 million dollars?
  
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- ConservDadASD
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 11:48am
  BioHazard… that is only if she is “Hot” enough to wear the name.
  
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bikerr
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:05am
Good for her.Would she be able to record and put on you tube her vision?. I’m not so sure having others know everything you see,is a good idea. Good luck to her. Not so sure we can continue to say”only in America”

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SamIamTwo
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:01am
Revolutionary, prob not. Seen any SiFy movies lately? Inspired by a movie more than likely…

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- BIGJAYINPA
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:05am
  We have the technology, we can build her better, faster, stronger….Didn’t I see this someplace before??…..Just askin’
  
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Bluefish49
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 9:59am
Really…..why?

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TRONINTHEMORNING
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 9:57am
Now that’s entrepeneurship!

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JP4JOY
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 9:56am
The beginnings of the Borg?

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- Noonien_Soong
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:28am
  The makings of Seven of Nine, resistance is futile.
  
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- NOBALONEY
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 11:27am
  Terminator
  
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timej31
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 9:56am
I like this idea a lot. Now onto figure out which I want to lose.

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I_Hate_Libs
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 9:56am
ahh creepy!

The horror of the Democrat mind.

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- UlyssesP
  Posted on August 2, 2011 at 10:02am
  Are you crazy? What does this have to do with the “liberal mind”? This is not creepy! If you have lost an eye in an accident I bet you’d be really interested how she does.
  I hope for her sake once it’s streaming online, she turns it off when she showers.
  
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