"Blink" Switch: A Magical Sensor [Full Text]

Science and technology dynamics Imagine blinking, lights turning on; blinking eyes, lights off... Chinese scientists recently reported that a new type of sensor was designed to attach to eyeglasses to detect blinking movements, thus “winking "It has become a reality to complete the daily tasks of switching home appliances.

"The technology can be considered as having a 'third hand'." One of the research leaders, Professor Hu Chenguo of Chongqing University told Xinhua News Agency reporters. She said that if normal people’s hands are occupied, this new type of human-computer interaction can be used to control the electronic devices around them. Patients who have lost their ability to exercise due to diseases such as chills can also benefit from this, and will explore such Sensors are installed in different parts of the human body to try to control the robot.

In addition to Hu Chenguo, Pu Xianjie and Guo Hengyu from Chongqing University and Professor Wang Zhonglin from the Beijing Institute of Nano Energy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences participated in the study. The paper was published in a new issue of the American Journal of Scientific Progress.

According to Hu Chenuo, the traditional human-computer interaction system detects the blinking eye movements and mainly detects the extremely weak surface bioelectric signals. They have used the frictional nano-power generation technology popular in recent years to design a new type of sensor that detects the blink of an eye. The tiny movements of the skin near the temples are not only highly sensitive, but also have better durability and stability than traditional detection methods.

She explained that the sensor consists of two layers of upper and lower film with a certain gap in the middle. The sensor is mounted on the temples and contacts the skin near the corner of the eye. When the eyes move, tiny movements of the skin around the corners of the eyes will make contact between the two layers of the film. After the eye is opened, the eyes will open and the two layers of film will separate. A conductive layer is formed on the back side of the film to generate a pulsed electrical signal output corresponding to blinking.

Test results show that the strength of the output of the pulsed electrical signal is directly related to the strength and speed of blinking. Compared with conscious eye blinking, the unconscious eye blinks slightly and the pulse signal strength is small, so the two are easier to distinguish.

In addition to being able to control the opening and closing of electronic devices by blinking, the design can also input on a virtual typing human-computer interaction interface, such as typing out English words and space symbols to form sentences. Due to the extremely high sensitivity and stability of the sensor, the accuracy of accomplishing these tasks is high.

Hu Chenguo said that in the future plans to further improve the blinking input method system, strive to be able to input arbitrary statements in this way, including switching between Chinese and English, input numbers and punctuation, and can also automatically associate common phrases with the input method, just as now People can do it on ordinary computer keyboards. In addition, researchers hope to achieve more complex applications such as remote-controlled smart devices through a combination of two eye movements.

Hu Chenguo pointed out that sensory-controlled human-computer interaction can establish new ways of natural communication between people and external devices, which is conducive to improving people’s quality of life. This work “makes it possible to control electronic devices by blinking Room to our daily life."