German Students Create Camera That Activates During Blinking

Students from the Bremen University of the Arts in Germany have developed a wearable mini camera that records video whenever the user blinks. This was reported on the university’s website.

According to researchers from the University of Tokyo, people blink more than 28,000 times a day, spending about 10% of their waking hours with their eyes closed. “Every day we blink thousands of times without noticing or thinking about what happens in front of our eyes during those moments. Augenblick captures these missed moments and shows them in a completely new light,” wrote developers Manasse Pinsuwan and Rene Heinrich.

The Augenblick camera attaches to the arm of a pair of glasses. Thanks to the MyoWare Muscle Sensor, which detects muscle contractions, the camera turns on exactly when the eyes close and turns off when they open. The device is powered by a single-board Raspberry Pi mini-computer and a standard portable battery used for charging smartphones.

According to the developers, footage from the Augenblick camera can be streamed to social networks or used to create documentary films about users’ lives.

In 2016, Sony patented an electronic contact lens with a camera that responds to the user’s blinking.