There has been some recent work[1] towards backscatter video (actually from the same lab you linked to). The basic idea is the same as the "great seal bug"[2] except for photodiodes. I say "towards" because much of the work they present is in the form of simulation.

[1] https://homes.cs.washington.edu/~gshyam/Papers/videobackscat... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)