Product Safety Approval - NRTL Certification and Listing

Bionic Eye Becomes Reality

The $6 Million Man, the 1970s television show, was manufactured using bionic body parts. Along with improved strength and durability in his limbs, Steve Austin was also outfitted with a bionic eye. It took many decades, but fiction has finally become fact. A team of researchers from the University of Minnesota has successfully 3D printed an optoelectronic eye for the first time.

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The visually impaired stand to benefit greatly from this product. Researchers began by printing a hemispherical glass dome using a custom 3D printer with a base ink of silver particles. This ink dried uniformly and stayed in place, which allowed for the printing of semiconductors to convert light into electricity, known as "photodiodes". This first version could only convert roughly 25% of the light into electricity.

Other hurdles must be conquered before this item is ready for public consumption. Creating more efficient light receptors and finding a way to print on a soft hemispherical material which can be implanted into a human eye are two of the biggest obstacles. Researchers envision a fully functional bionic eye in the not too distant future.

With new technology comes new safety standards. Which standards to apply will greatly affect ability to get a UL listing. Regardless of which standards are applicable to your product, let Product Safety Consulting Inc. be "Your Outsourced Compliance Department".