Visually impaired Elizabeth Goldring is a senior fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (M.I.T.) (U.S.), Centre for Advanced Visual Studies. Her ‘Seeing machine’ allows people with limited vision to see faces of friends, read or study the layouts of buildings they intend to visit.

Plugged into a personal computer, the device uses light-emitting diodes to project selected images into a person's eye, allowing visually impaired users see words or pictures. It only works for people with some living retina cells. A completely blind person would not be able to use the device.

The seeing machine is not wearable and does not allow one to easily navigate through a crowded, unfamiliar space. But it helps a user to study a colour image, such as printed words, pictures of people or room layouts. To use the machine, one looks through an eyepiece and navigates through the image using a joystick in an effect similar to playing a video game.

A medical device called a scanning laser opthalmoscope, which a doctor had used to examine Goldring’s eyes, inspired the seeing machine. The device is estimated to cost about 4,000 (approximately Rupees 1,80,000) to manufacture. With the prototype now working, Goldring's next hurdle is to build a commercial version.