Software that can be taught to refine the information sent from a bionic eye to its wearer is being trialled in Germany.

Rolf Eckmiller, a computer scientist at Bonn University, says the secret to improving these implants is to match the signals they produce with the signals that a healthy eye sends to the brain.

In their system, a camera feeds information to a “retina encoder” –software that mimics the image processing done by a healthy retina.

The Bonn team is developing software that learns the correct settings from a user, using visor-mounted motion sensors that the wearer controls with head movements. Successive rounds of the process can transform an almost shapeless collection of dots into a recognizable replica of the shape.

It does this through a “dialogue module” that tries different settings while a user looks at standard shapes. Over time, the system learns to produce a signal that provides a more accurate picture to the user’s brain.