NCIE
   
 

Innovation

3D-Printed Micro-Camera Sees with Eagle-Eye Vision    

Now, a team of engineers has developed a camera that could provide eagle-eye vision to micro-drones.
The new camera could be used for medical procedures, such as endoscopies, or to build micro-robots specially designed to measure, explore or survey, the researchers said.
Previously, the engineers used a technique called femtosecond laser writing to 3D-print miniature lenses directly onto an image-sensing chip. To create sharp images like an eagle's eye, the researchers used this process to print clusters of four lenses at a time. The lenses range from wide to narrow and low to high resolution, and images can then be combined into a bull's-eye shape with a sharp image at the center, similar to how eagles see.