A camera without electricity that can see at the speed of light

Can you imagine a world where cameras not only capture images, but also understand and process information instantly, without the need for large amounts of electricity or computing power? Researchers at Princeton University and the University of Washington have just made this a reality. The team that had already surprised the world by creating a camera the size of a grain of salt, took a step further by developing a new type of compact camera that works with light and not electricity, allowing it to recognize objects at the speed of light, this represents a gigantic leap for Artificial Intelligence and computer vision. This technology can revolutionize the way smart devices perceive the world, while traditional cameras capture images and then send the data to a processor, this new camera already processes information the moment light passes through it, this is only possible thanks to meta surfaces, an artificial material that does not bend light like conventional glass or plastic lenses, instead it diffracts light through microscopic nano structures, performing complex calculations instantly and sending only the essential data for analysis, in other words this camera already understands what it's seeing before the image even forms.

This means that the camera can detect objects and make decisions in real time without depending on large computers or servers in the cloud. This could have a direct impact on technologies such as self-driving cars, augmented reality even humanoid robots, the most impressive thing is that this camera not only captures images, but also organizes and brings back visual data intelligently. To understand it better, imagine that you are driving an autonomous car instead of a traditional camera capturing the entire street and a processor having to analyze all the details, this new technology would automatically identify pedestrians, traffic lights and other vehicles in real time without the need for post-processing. This approach is very similar to how the eyes of some animals work, for example, the dragonfly and the mantis shrimp can detect information that human eyes would never perceive such as the polarization of light now, scientists are applying this concept to the world of computer vision, the new technology is still in the experimental phase, but scientists believe it could completely change the way machines and artificial intelligences perceive the world.

Humanoid robots could interact with their environment without the need for an internal supercomputer, augmented reality glasses could work without requiring large batteries or heavy processing, and security systems could detect threats instantly without depending on external servers, and of course, autonomous cars could become even safer and more efficient, processing traffic in real time with lower energy consumption. We are only scratching the surface say the researchers, if this technology continues to advance it could represent a true revolution for artificial intelligence and computer vision, but do you believe that this Innovation can really transform the technology we use on a daily basis or will it be that like so many other revolutionary discoveries it will still take years to become accessible to us.