Scientists Build Glasses That Generate Electricity With Your Blink

This article first appeared on the Gamefa website, in the news, reviews, games, cinema, film and series section, under the title “Scientists Build Glasses That Generate Electricity With Your Blink.” The new smart glasses detect body activity using energy from facial movements. At the heart of this new glasses technology are three very thin components called triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG). Despite the complex name, the technology's operating principle is a familiar phenomenon.

The new smart glasses recognize body activities with the energy of facial movements.

At the heart of the technology of these new glasses are three very thin pieces called triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG). Despite the complex name of this technology, the basis of its operation is a familiar phenomenon, static electricity.

Anyone who has rubbed a balloon in their hair or petted a cat on a dry winter day has experienced the triboelectric effect. When two dissimilar materials come into contact and then separate, electrons can be transferred from one material to the other, resulting in a short-lived electrical charge.

GlassTENG technology takes advantage of this simple phenomenon. Each flexible sensor is made up of several layers of materials that are repeatedly pressed together and then separated in response to facial movements. For example, when you blink, the pressure generated activates one of the sensors. Squeezing the jaw activates another sensor. Even the subtle pressure caused by blood passing through an artery is enough to activate these sensors.

Arora said about how this technology works:

When the layers come into contact and then separate, they produce a very small voltage. This feature means that the same movement that is measured also provides the mechanical energy needed to detect it. In other words, blinking helps provide energy to a sensor that is responsible for detecting the same blinking.

Three sensors to record different signals

To gather the most information possible, Arora and his research team placed three sensors at strategic points on the eyeglass frame. The first sensor is installed on the bridge of the nose and near the angular artery and muscles around the eyes. This sensor can detect pulse, blinking and eyebrow movements. The second sensor is located near the temple and records changes related to the superficial temporal artery and jaw movements. The third sensor is installed closer to the ear and detects the movements caused by chewing and clenching the teeth.

Together, these three sensors provide the possibility of detecting facial movements from different points. Also, they are sensitive to forces of different intensities. The arterial pulse, which was the weakest force investigated in this study, produced electrical signals with a voltage of about 50 to 100 millivolts. Blinking and eyebrow raising produced signals in the approximate range of 200 to 500 mV. Stronger jaw movements, including chewing and clenching the teeth, also produced signals with voltages of up to 1.5 volts.

Arora said about the importance of the difference in these signals:

These differences make each facial activity have its own identifiable electrical pattern.

In testing the technology, 20 participants performed six different activities while wearing glass-tight glasses: blinking, raising their eyebrows, clenching their teeth together, clicking their teeth together, eating and talking. Then, using machine learning algorithms, the research group analyzed the patterns in the electrical signals to identify the type of activity performed by each person. The system achieved 93.8% accuracy in identifying these six activities.

Imagine if glasses could detect jaw clenching and gently remind the person to relax their muscles; Or when eating, identify this activity and encourage the person to pay more attention to their eating habits. By combining cardiovascular condition monitoring and behavior detection in a very low consumption system, Glasstang provides the possibility of checking the relationship between the physiological state of the body and daily behaviors. This technology can also pave the way for providing personalized solutions at moments when such interventions are most beneficial to the individual.