The first time humans seriously thought about "machines' eyes" was not in a laboratory, but in science fiction works.
Now, a truly "bionic robotic eye" has moved from papers to a real prototype: it uses a lens made of soft materials and light itself as "energy", can see the tiny hairs on an ant's leg at the microscopic scale, and its resolving power has exceeded the physiological limit of the human eye.
This is not a simple "camera upgrade", but a reconstruction of "how machines see the world" through the combination of optics and materials.
I. What Exactly Is This "Robotic Eye"?
This work comes from a team at a top engineering university in the United States. What they created is not a shelled "electronic eyeball", but a brand-new soft bionic lens system, abbreviated as PHySL (photoresponsive hydrogel soft lens) in English, which literally translates to "photoresponsive hydrogel soft lens".
Its basic structure can be broken down as follows:
● Center: A flexible silicone polymer lens, used to complete basic imaging;
● Outer ring: A photoresponsive hydrogel ring embedded with graphene/graphene oxide, equivalent to a circle of artificial "ciliary muscles";
● Overall: Fully soft and bendable, without rigid lenses, motors, or screws.
The core lies in: it does not rely on any motors or external power sources, but uses light to drive itself to zoom.
II. How Does It Complete Focusing with "Light"?
Traditional cameras or human eyes rely on mechanical or biological "muscles" for focusing.
This bionic lens takes a completely different path: it uses the photothermal effect and volume change of materials to make the lens "move" by itself.
The logic is very clear:
1. The outer hydrogel is doped with graphene—graphene has strong light absorption and can convert light energy into thermal energy.
2. When light shines on it, the local temperature rises—hydrogel is sensitive to temperature and undergoes reversible expansion or contraction when heated.
3. The expansion/contraction of the hydrogel squeezes the lens—this is equivalent to a ring of "light-driven muscles" that exerts mechanical effects on the middle silicone lens.
4. The curvature of the lens changes, and the focal length changes accordingly—as the curvature changes, the way light converges changes, and the focal point moves back and forth to achieve "wireless zoom".
In a more complex system, researchers embedded this soft lens into a hydrogel microfluidic network, using the same beam of light to control both "imaging + fluid channel switching" at the same time, creating a prototype "electronic-free soft camera".
This means that in certain scenarios, the camera can get rid of electricity and hard materials and be completed only with light and soft materials.
III. Why Is Its "Vision Superior to the Human Eye"?
Media reports used a striking statement: "Scientists Have Created A Robot Eye With Better Sight Than Humans".
Breaking it down, there are mainly two aspects:
1. Resolving power exceeds the physiological limit of the human eye
Constrained by the physical structure of the human eye and the arrangement of the retina, the naked eye's resolution limit is roughly on the order of 100 micrometers. To see smaller structures, microscopes are needed.
In experimental verification, this bionic soft lens can:
● Resolve details on the order of about 4 micrometers;
● Clearly image the tiny hairs and microstructures on an ant's leg.
In the dimensions of "resolution" and "close-range microscopic imaging capability", it has exceeded the physical upper limit of the human naked eye.
2. Morphology and integrability are different from traditional optics
Compared with rigid glass/plastic lenses, this soft lens has several characteristics:
● Fully soft and can be integrally formed with the body of soft robots;
● No need for motors, wires, or gears, with an extremely simple structure;
● Only relies on light drive and has the potential of "self-energy supply".
In extreme environments where humans are not suitable to enter and traditional lenses are not suitable to be placed (high pressure, narrow spaces, curved channels, living organisms, etc.), the integrability and adaptability of this soft lens are difficult for the human eye and traditional lenses to achieve.
It should be noted that the overall performance of human "vision" is a comprehensive result of "eyes + brain". At present, the bionic soft lens only shows advantages in the aspect of "optical imaging and focusing", and does not have advanced visual cognition similar to the human brain.
IV. Where Can It Be Used: From Soft Robots to Minimally Invasive Medicine
This type of bionic robotic eye is not designed to add an extra line of "parameters" to mobile phones, but to provide a visual foundation for a batch of new forms.
Several typical directions can be seen:
1. Soft search and rescue robotsSoft robots moving through rubble need to have a soft body and be able to see details clearly. Traditional hard lenses are difficult to follow body deformation, and this type of lens is naturally suitable.
2. Agricultural and industrial inspectionIt can approach plant leaves, fruits, solder joints, and microstructures for close-range high-resolution imaging, helping to identify disease spots, cracks, and defects.
3. Minimally invasive surgery and endoscopic imagingSoft lenses are integrated at the front end of flexible catheters and flexible endoscopes to reduce tissue damage caused by rigid probes and maintain automatic focusing in narrow spaces.
4. Microscopic observation of biological samplesIt can replace part of the microscope objective lenses to make low-cost, bendable microscopic imaging modules for on-site rapid detection.
5. Extreme environment detectionIn deep sea, high pressure, and strong impact environments, flexible lenses are less likely to break than traditional lenses and are more suitable for long-term deployment.
From an industrial logic perspective, this technology opens up a new track of "soft visual front-ends", rather than simply "upgrading high-definition cameras by one generation".
V. The Combination of Bionic Robotic Eyes and Iris Recognition
Next, we only focus on one thing: what practical significance does this type of bionic robotic eye have for iris recognition.
1.A better "front-end collector": providing cleaner images for iris recognition
The upper limit of iris recognition is largely determined by the quality of front-end imaging:
● Whether the texture is clear enough;
● Whether reflection, occlusion, and defocus are controllable;
● Whether stable collection can be achieved in an uncooperative state.
Flexible bionic lenses are directly useful in three aspects:
(1) Close-range high-resolution capabilityIris texture itself is a microstructured feature. The micrometer-level resolving power expands the feature extraction space and increases the encoded information volume, which can theoretically improve the distinguishability and anti-counterfeiting capability.
(2) Flexible focusing and adaptive postureSoft lenses can dynamically focus through light field control, and still ensure that the iris is on the focal plane when the subject moves back and forth or has an unstable posture. This means that the requirements for standing position, head position, and cooperation level can be reduced, which is conducive to deployment in channels, pedestrian flow scenarios, and robot interaction scenarios.
(3) Morphological adaptabilityTraditional iris modules are "a box" with limited installation positions. Flexible bionic lenses can:
● Be embedded in door frames, walls, and the "face" of robots;
● Be integrated into the front end of wearable devices (glasses, headbands);
● Fit curved structures and blend into the environment.
For iris recognition, this means that collection points can be more hidden, natural, and diverse.
2.Moving iris recognition from "fixed terminals" to "mobile terminals" and "flexible terminals"
Most traditional iris recognition devices are:
● Fixed turnstiles;
● Desktop devices in front of counters/windows;
● Certain handheld terminals.
With flexible bionic lenses, new combination forms can emerge:
(1) Soft service robotsThe front end of the robot is a bionic "eye", which performs navigation and environmental perception while collecting iris images when approaching users, achieving card-free and contactless strong identity authentication.
(2) Patrol/law enforcement terminalsFlexible modules are integrated into law enforcement body cameras, ID badges, helmets and other equipment to complete identity verification with a higher security level during natural human-human interaction, rather than requiring the other party to stop and approach a fixed device.
(3) Identity binding in medical scenariosBionic lenses are integrated at the front end of flexible endoscopes, catheters, and inspection equipment for iris shooting at the same time, locking the unique patient with iris identity during the whole process of surgery, inspection, and medication administration, reducing mismatches and medical disputes.
Essentially, bionic robotic eyes turn iris recognition from "a device at a certain point" into "a capability in the system", which can be embedded into any visual front-end that requires strong identity authentication.
3.Improving recognition robustness in complex environments
Iris recognition often encounters several problems in engineering implementation:
● Outdoor glare and backlit environments;
● Glasses, reflection, and partial occlusion;
● Large user movement and posture changes.
Flexible bionic lenses are designed for complex deformation and environments, and their material and structural characteristics can be used to:
● Arrange fill light and imaging angles more flexibly to reduce glasses reflection and corneal highlights;
● On motion platforms such as robots, buffer the impact of motion blur through adaptive zoom;
● Quickly adjust the optical path under different lighting conditions through light drive itself to obtain relatively stable iris imaging quality.
These capabilities will directly feed back to:
● Recognition success rate;
● User experience ("pass by standing for a moment" instead of adjusting posture back and forth);
● Usable environment range (indoor, semi-outdoor, mobile).
Summary
Bionic robotic eyes solve the problem of "seeing and seeing clearly", while iris recognition solves the problem of "recognizing accurately and binding firmly".
When the two are combined, iris recognition gains new front-end entrances and broader application scenarios.
