Australian researchers have reached a new milestone in the development of the world's first bionic eye.

The Bionic Vision Australia group installed prototype retinal implants in three partially-sighted patients in 2012.

One of them was Dianne Ashworth, who can see only vague sections of light and dark after being diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa 21 years ago.

"It started out with swirls, and the swirls moved in and that's what I'm left with now, is these massive swirls going around," she said.

The retinal implant now allows her to see a grid of 24 points in an array across her field of vision when the device is switched on and stimulated.

Dianne Ashworth wears a camera and other equipment to help her retinal implant see obstacles. ( ABC News )

Until now, this array has only been switched on for computer simulation tests.

But on Wednesday, Ms Ashworth had her first 'unplugged' trial in Canberra, navigating an obstacle-filled maze while wearing a camera and back-pack computer to assist her sight.

"We've been doing some tests with obstacles in front, and I have been negotiating my way around those obstacles," she said.

Associate Professor Nick Barnes says the trials put patients into situations they are likely to face in the real world.

"This is the first time we've gone away from desktop tasks and into the environment," he said.

Professor Barnes says this is the first time a retinal implant has been used in conjunction with sophisticated computer software which interprets and makes sense of what the device sees.

"There are a very small number of other groups in the world who are doing mobile experiments," he said.

"[But] the computer forming an interpretation of the scene, that hasn't been done before.

"It's the most sophisticated that's been reported being trialled with patients."

Dr Chris McCarthy from the Australian ICT research group NICTA says the goal is to create an understandable picture of the world for those with vision problems.

Sophisticated image recognition software working alongside the retinal implant allows patients to distinguish objects. ( Supplied )

"We're looking at how this device actually helps our patients to navigate around obstacles and also get to landmarks in the distance," he said.

"The camera receives the image and that goes through to a computer which is mounted in her backpack, and we try to condense that down in a intelligent way.

"That then goes down to what's called a stimulator.

"We're actually trying to stimulate the cells that are still there, that are still healthy, so that we create that percept in her brain of seeing things."

The researchers hope to create smaller, more user-friendly versions of the autonomous systems based on results from this week's trials.