Photos: Artificial eyes and airport scanners - what's hot in R&D

Before they became household names, technologies like ATMs, halogen lamps, fax machines and LCDs were recipients of R&D 100 Awards, given out annually by R&D Magazine.

This year's winners represent a broad range of technologies - from smart prosthetics to 3D computer chips, and a new type of landmine detector. They showcase work developed by industrial enterprises, government labs and universities from around the globe.

This slideshow offers a sampling of the 2009 R&D award recipients, which were announced last month.

The Artificial Retina
The Artificial Retina is a retinal prosthesis that can be used to treat age-related macular degeneration and inherited retinal disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa.

The device uses application-specific integrated circuits to transform digital images from a camera into electrical signals in the eye that the brain uses to create a visual image. The system features a video camera and transmitter mounted in sunglasses, a visual processing unit, and a battery pack to power the device that is worn on the belt. The retinal implant receives a signal via wireless transmission, encodes it into specific patterns of stimulation pulses that are conducted through a cable to the electrode array that stimulates the retina. The brain perceives the patterns of light spots corresponding to the stimulated electrodes.

Developers include: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, United States Department of Energy, California Institute of Technology, Doheny Eye Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, North Carolina State University at Raleigh, University of California at Santa Cruz, and Second Sight Medical Products.

Photo credit: R&D Magazine