Neil Harbisson, Eye-Borg wearer and student at Dartington College of Art: “I was in a lecture given by Adam Montandon in Dartington college and he was talking about cybernetics and cyborgs and how new technology can change the way we perceive the world and, when he finished and asked him if he thought it would be possible to create something so that I could perceive colour in some way and he said ‘Sure’, and we began a project.”

Guide Voice: What Adam created was the “Eye-Borg” – a means of transferring colours into a series of audible tones.

Adam Montandon, Director of Digital Futures, HMC Interactive and Guest Lecturer in Digital Arts, Dartington College of Art – “How the Eye-Borg system works is it uses a small, digital head mounted camera that takes in all the colout information directly in front of it and feeds it into a computer that you can wear in a backpack, it can be any normal laptop computer, and the laptop runs on special software that slows down the light waves and turns them into soundwaves. Those soundwaves then come out of the headphones here.”

Med. wide NH painting – audio tones from Eye-Borg can be heard
Over shoulder shot of painting – audio tones from Eye-Borg can be heard

Profile of NH painting – audio tones from Eye-Borg can be heard
c.u. paints held in hand – audio tones from Eye-Borg can be heard

Guide Voice: The Eye-Borg analyses the light waves it received and transposes these into sound waves. So red, which is a low colour frequency, is heard as a low tone; violet, at the other end of the spectrum, would sound as a high tone. This gives Neil his new found perception of colour and Adam is confident that he can adapt his invention to help others.

Adam Montandon – “The wider applications of the Eye-Borg are almost limitless. It’s not just for people with visual impairments; it could even be used for people with complete blindness. And also a lot of musicians, a lot of artists, a lot of engineers are really interested in a project that combines visual and audio experience as one new perception. Everybody uses their eyes or their ears in their day to day job, and this can really help to bring a closer connection between the two.”

This is my story about coming to university

When I came to an open day at the University I saw one of the lecturers presenting some of the great games that final year students had created. When I saw them I thought, “I’d love to make something like that.” Four years later I was running my own software development company and winning countless awards.

After graduation I was very busy. I won the Submerge Award with three other students for creating an online game and, together, we worked really hard to build HMC Interactive, an award winning software development company. HMC Interactive creates interactive multimedia products for a wide range of industries from education to entertainment and beyond, turning fantasy into reality. It’s great fun building theme parks and attractions all over the world. It’s never boring and I love it!

For one of our American clients we created audio-reactive disability rooms for children with autism and cerebral palsy. It uses high-powered hidden microphones to turn children’s sounds into a world of colours and light. We worked with leading American speech therapists to create it and we are hoping to bring it to the UK soon.

Currently, I am working on the Space Gallery at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, making huge digital rooms full of interactive starscapes from the Hubble telescope. We are also designing new interactive playspaces for the Cadbury World theme park in Birmingham. “Purple Planet” is a realm of mirrors, wall-sized screens, hidden cameras, motion detectors and interactive projections that react when you touch them or move your body. They form a series of mind-stretching virtual exhibits including such features as chocolate rain falling from the sky and a photo booth that moulds people into cyber chocolate sculptures.

“It’s great fun building theme parks and attractions all over the world. I love it!”