A contact lens has been created that zooms in when you blink

[midian182]

Forward-looking: For those who aren’t fans of wearing glasses, contact lenses are a fantastic alternative option. But scientists have found a way to make them even more impressive: allowing users to zoom in on objects just by blinking twice.

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego, created the amazing soft contact lens by measuring the electrooculographic signals that are generated when eyes make movements such as up and down, left and right, and blinking. Even when the eye is closed, or you’re in total darkness, these electrical impulses can still be generated.

“Even if your eye cannot see anything, many people can still move their eyeball and generate this electro-oculographic signal,” lead researcher Shengqiang Cai told New Scientist.

The lens that the scientists created is able to change its focal length depending on the signals the eye generates. They used dielectric elastomer to deform the soft lens, allowing the focal length to change by as much as 32 percent. This lets the lens zoom in on something just by blinking twice.

The researchers said the invention could have applications in "visual prostheses, adjustable glasses, and remotely operated robotics in the future." Whether it ends up being used by the military and government organizations remains to be seen, but you can imagine the potential of having what are essentially mini-binoculars built into soldiers' and spies' eyes.

Image credit: Zyn Chakrapong via Shutterstock

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https://www.techspot.com/news/81186-contact-lens-has-created-zooms-when-you-blink.html

 

[Rock Dirty]

Enhance!

 

[VitalyT]

This will never work. People blink instinctively twice all the time. It is stupid to treat it as a signal for zooming, will create a lot of disorientation.

And so it will be as useful as a toilet that flushes whenever it detects a fart.

 

[Vrmithrax]

I could see this being a way to maybe do something like eliminate bifocals for people who need them, if the focal adjustment works in both positive and negative directions.

And I'm sure it would be easy to lock in a different method than the 2 blink switch - maybe 3 or 4 in rapid succession to change zoom modes.

 

[mbrowne5061]

This will never work. People blink instinctively twice all the time. It is stupid to treat it as a signal for zooming, will create a lot of disorientation.

And so it will be as useful as a toilet that flushes whenever it detects a fart.

The solution here is relatively simple then: more blinks to activate.

 

[amghwk]

How do you zoom out? Double-blink?

Or right-wink?

 

[Igrecman]

So it gets 32% thicker when it zooms. It seems a lot. If it augments the curvature of the lens as well, it would make it impossible to focus very far.

 

[Odium]

Yaay. Can't wait to be able to zoom on chick asses.

 

[p51d007]

I want a bionic eye that makes the boop boop boop sound like the tv show "The Six Million Dollar Man"

 

[wiyosaya]

I want a bionic eye that makes the boop boop boop sound like the tv show "The Six Million Dollar Man"

Not sure about the boop boop boop, but have a look at this - https://www.newscientist.com/articl...elps-people-who-are-blind-read-letters-again/

 

[Uncle Al]

It's an impressive start. More impressive would be a contact lens that can automatically adjust for vision problems and bring images back to normal levels or, if desired, better like 20/10 or 20/5 vision.

 

[Andromadus]

How do you zoom out? Double-blink?

Or right-wink?

Lol... You've made my day...

 

[Raytrace3D]

How do you zoom out? Double-blink?

Or right-wink?

You have to roll (scroll) your eyes up/down to adjust focal length.

 

[Vrmithrax]

You have to roll (scroll) your eyes up/down to adjust focal length.

Obviously teenagers can't use these contact lenses, then... One long conversation with their parents would blow out their optic nerves with all of that scrolling.

 

[Daniele 00]

This will never work. People blink instinctively twice all the time. It is stupid to treat it as a signal for zooming, will create a lot of disorientation.

And so it will be as useful as a toilet that flushes whenever it detects a fart.

What it's important here is that they found a way to read "blinks" and other "eyes movement". As a consequence they will write a correct algoritm with which you can command your lens to zoom at will.

 

[JaredTheDragon]

Yaay. Can't wait to be able to zoom on chick asses.

Focus isn't zoom.

 

[TechCat]

Crossing your eyes would be a unique trigger. Crossing can be done by the eyes tracking a verticle finger in to the bridge of the nose.

 

[mhayen]

How about a zoom on squint instead?

 

[EClyde]

It might work but I didn't intend to blink twice now I can't see proper and I am driving. I will just keep blinking til all is clear

 

[Markoni35]

Fantastic. It will cause more car crashes than cellphones. Good work!

 

[lazer]

This will never work. People blink instinctively twice all the time. It is stupid to treat it as a signal for zooming, will create a lot of disorientation.

And so it will be as useful as a toilet that flushes whenever it detects a fart.

"a toilet that flushes whenever it detects a fart." Quiet! I am working now on that!! Don't give it away!