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Micro-Camera Can Be Injected With A Syringe -- May Pose Surveillance Concerns (phys.org)
Taco Cowboy quotes a report from ABC Online: German engineers have created a camera no bigger than a grain of salt that could change the future of health imaging -- and clandestine surveillance. Using 3D printing, researchers from the University of Stuttgart built a three-lens camera, and fit it onto the end of an optical fiber the width of two hairs. Such technology could be used as minimally-intrusive endoscopes for exploring inside the human body, the engineers reported in the journal Nature Photonics. The compound lens of the camera is just 100 micrometers (0.1 millimeters) wide, and 120 micrometers with its casing. It could also be deployed in virtually invisible security monitors, or mini-robots with "autonomous vision." The compound lens can also be printed onto image sensor other than optical fibers, such as those used in digital cameras. The researchers said it only took a few hours to design, manufacture and test the camera, which yielded "high optical performances and tremendous compactness." They believe the 3D printing method -- used to create the camera -- may represent "a paradigm shift."
In my head, that reads as GIVE US MORE GRANT MONEY.
They're in my eyes too!
#DeleteChrome
The ability to hide cameras is nothing new, and making them orders of magnitude smaller doesn't change that much; it was already possible to hide a camera in ways that would be almost impossible to discover accidentally. The reason we don't have cameras hidden everywhere is that you have to provide power and a communication channel, both of which take up considerable amounts of space, and thus make it much easier to detect the cameras. This doesn't change that.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
I have seen such cameras (hair thin fibre optic connected) before; in use by security services of various nations.
What is most interesting is the construction via 3D printing, making it available to anyone.
Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
This is just a lens on the end of a piece of fiber optic fiber. In order to be a camera, it needs to be able to record the image it focuses on, since this can not record anything with out being attached to something else, I do not consider it a camera on its own, it is simply a lens on a fiber.
A camera needs to incorporate a recording medium, whether it be film or digital. All this looks to be is a lens on the end of a fiber, so the FUD about it being surveillance technology is BS. Add a silicon sensor to it and it will be several times larger. Plus, it has a a 3mm focal distance. you basically need to be touching it to something to form an image.
The original (from ABC, not physics.org) did mention security cameras.... ...right above the paragraph that says 3mm focal length.
sigh...
That seems little short for even a regular endoscope.
You're gonna need a LOT of little cameras!
I couldn't see notes about how the thing is powered, but a third major benefit from this sort of thing may be that its battery usage is negligible. That means you can do so much more than an ambient light sensor. Consider a wearable that scans QR codes automatically, so it's already available when you want it (you never miss the opportunity to get it, nor do you have to fumble around with lining it up or getting it in focus). Now consider the same for facial recognition. This clearly has privacy implications even without being ~invisible.
If it's also cheap enough, you could even knit it into clothing (just encase it so it's water-safe and able to handle temperatures from -40 to 200F). Sensors everywhere, knowing everything you've been in contact with, helping track the spread of diseases ... or just your lost keys.
Also, a big thank you to the submitter, who actually linked the original academic paper in the main Slashdot story. We need more of that.
Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
Just saying.
This is a lens-system at the end of an optical fiber. The actual camera is a the other end of that fiber. The paper-title gets it right: "Two-photon direct laser writing of ultracompact multi-lens objectives". There is nothing "injectable" here and no "surveillance concerns" either. This is a better endoscope, and that is it. As such it is very interesting, no doubt. But the add-on concerns and fear-mongering are complete bullshit.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
After all, so far all they have been implanted is "microchips", now they get cameras on top of that!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
3D printing
paradigm shift
German engineers
could change the future
researchers from the University of
mini-robots
BINGO!
"The researchers said it only took a few hours to design, manufacture and test the camera".
So it was not a ground breaking discovery.
It was an episode of the Big Bang Theory.
This facilitates two way surveillance, and removes some of the state's advantage.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
The future is here now!
Such a tiny lens is going to run into problems with diffraction. Perhaps 100 um is usable, but the image won't be crisp. There is a reason insects have compound eyes. The devices that get around diffraction-limited imaging are scanning-type devices, like tunneling scanning EM.
Camera = surveillance = Evil
but...
3D printed = super cool
Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I'm confused
Prisoners the dead will talk
The resolution of the camera wasn't mentioned. 1-pixel x 1-pixel would be reasonable for a single fiber. There aren't too many applications where this would be useful.
How large would a 720p camera based on this technology be? Probably too large to be injected!
I wish to be injected with hardware by German scientists so that they can monitor me. This sounds like an attractive idea and I cannot think of anything that could go wrong!
I mean, having yourself injected with one of those would be a real surveillance concern.