Scientists have revealed a futuristic new robotic contact lens that is essentially an advanced zoom lens for the human eye. It can be zoomed in and controlled by blinking and looking around.
Eye movements like blinking carry change potential to signal. Shengqiang Cai, the lead researcher, told the New Scientist that the eye has an electrooculographic potential, even if you’re sleeping:
“Even if your eye cannot see anything, many people can still move their eyeball and generate this electro-oculographic signal.”
The “biomimetic soft lens” is essentially a thin bag of salt water. The case itself is made of polymers which, depending on the voltage, change the lens to be more convex or concave, allowing it to “zoom in or out”, like changing the focal length on a camera.
So in addition to double blinks, the contact lens can be controlled by looking in different directions (e.g. up, down, left, and right) as well, shifting as your eye moves around.
