眨眨眼就能开关家电

Just imagine blinking your eyes to get all things done.

Chinese researchers have designed a new sensor that, when attached to a pair of glasses, can detect the motion of an intentionally closing eye, enabling a range of hands-free tasks, including typing or turning a light on and off.

“The technique can be considered as having a third hand,” said Hu Chenguo of Chongqing University, one of the study authors.

Hu said the newly designed sensor may one day help people with locked-in syndrome*, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis* and other disabilities, to communicate and perform everyday tasks.

Past approaches to detect eye movement have largely relied on body surface bioelectrical signals, which are very weak and unreliable. In the new study, Hu and colleagues designed a sensor based on the so-called triboelectric* nanogenerator* to detect the motion of the skin around the corners of eyes.

When the sensor is attached to the inside of an eyeglasses frame, the miniscule* muscle movement of a closing eye momentarily* pushes the sensor’s layers together, generating an electrical signal that can be reliably measured.

Importantly, the sensor can distinguish between unintentional blinks and deliberate ones, it said.(SD-Agencies)