invasive · retinal-stim · discontinued
Argus II
Identity
- Manufacturer
- Second Sight Medical Products
- Model number
- —
- Codename
- —
- Aliases
- Second Sight Argus II, Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System
- Generation
- —
- Country of origin
- US
- Released
- Announced
- —
- Discontinued
- Status
- discontinued
Classification
- Invasiveness
- invasive
- Modalities
- retinal-stim
- Primary modality
- retinal-stim
- Direction
- write
- Categories
- medical-implant, prosthetic-control, stimulation
- Form factor
- implant, glasses
- Use cases
- artificial vision for late-stage retinitis pigmentosa, low-resolution light / motion / shape perception in legally blind adults
- Target users
- patient-paralysis, ophthalmologist, neurosurgeon
Electrodes
- Total channels
- 60
- Recording channels
- 0
- Reference channels
- —
- Electrode type
- retinal-array
- Material
- platinum
- 10-20 positions
- —
- Requires gel
- No
- Requires saline
- No
- Prep time
- —
- Reusable
- No
- Disposable
- No
Stimulation
- Capable
- Yes
Connectivity
- Protocols
- proprietary-inductive
- Bluetooth
- —
- Bluetooth profiles
- —
- Concurrent mode
- —
- Encryption (transit)
- —
- Pairing methods
- —
- Cloud sync
- No
- Offline recording
- No
Power
- Sources
- transcutaneous-inductive
- Battery life (active)
- —
- Charging port
- —
- Charging time
- —
- Battery replaceable
- No
- Notes
- Power and data delivered to the implant inductively from a coil on the patient's eyeglasses; the body-worn Video Processing Unit (VPU) battery powers the external system.
Physical
- Weight
- —
- Dimensions
- —
- Materials
- platinum, titanium
- Sizes
- —
- Head circumference
- —
- Operating temp
- —
Software & data
- Mobile app
- No
- Cloud platform
- No
- Offline mode
- Yes
- Subscription required
- No
- Raw data access
- No
- Export formats
- —
- LSL support
- No
- Data ownership
- manufacturer
- Apps
- —
SDK & developer access
- Has SDK
- No
- Open source
- No
- Languages
- —
- Web Bluetooth
- No
- Raw sample access
- No
- BCI paradigms
- —
- 3rd-party integrations
- —
- Docs
- —
Capabilities
- Attention / focus
- —
- Meditation / calm
- —
- Neurofeedback
- —
- Meditation coaching
- —
- Sleep tracking
- —
Regulatory & clinical
- FDA status
- hde
- CE mark
- Yes
- Certifications
- FDA HDE H110002, CE (2011)
- Prescription required
- Yes
- Pediatric approved
- No
Pricing & availability
- MSRP
- $150,000
- Current price
- —
- Subscription
- —
- Warranty
- —
- Return policy (days)
- —
- Where to buy
- —
Editor’s take
In favor
- First commercial visual prosthesis
- Validated implant pipeline
Against
- Discontinued — devices unsupported in implanted patients
- 60-electrode resolution is limited
Sources & provenance
- FDA HDE H110002 — Argus II
- FDA HDE H110002 approval documentation (PDF)
- Second Sight — Argus II FDA approval press release
- Wikipedia — Argus retinal prosthesis
- IEEE Spectrum — bionic eyes obsolete
Last reviewed