New AI-driven technology turns regular glasses into an eye health monitor by tracking your blinks.
BlinkWise was developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science and it uses radio signals to track eyelid movements. This new device easily clips onto glasses and then bounces radio waves off the eye. These radio waves detect tiny movements of the eyelid and BlinkWise then translates the continuous signal into an "eye openness core".
Fatigue, eye dryness and mental workload is assessed by BlinkWise. The pattern of blinking is known as blink dynamics and includes blink duration, the completeness of each blink, whether it's full or partial, and the timing of the eyelid closing and reopening. Longer eyelid closures can indicate the person is drowsy. A larger number of "partial blinks" is an indicator of dry eye disease.
Researchers are excited about the potential that BlinkWise offers in being more in tuned to the wearer than current smart glasses which can only respond to voice commands.
