PARTIALLY blind people can now read using a machine that projects images directly onto their retinal cells.

The Retinal Imaging Machine Vision System (RIMVS) can also be used to explore virtual buildings, allowing people to familiarise themselves with new places.

The device, developed by Elizabeth Goldring, a poetry professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is herself partially blind, is designed for people who suffer vision loss due to obstructions such as haemorrhages or diseases that erode the cells on the retina.

The user looks through a viewfinder and the images are focused directly onto the retina. The person can guide the light to find the areas that still work best. The machine uses LED light and costs just $4000.