---
title: "This Robotic Contact Lens Can Zoom in or out Just by Blinking"
description: "A team of scientists from the University of California San Diego created a robotic contact lens that can zoom in and out when you blink."
date: "2019-07-29"
modified: "2019-07-29"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/robotic-contact-lens-zoom-blink"
categories:
  - "Robotics"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "bioinic lens"
  - "contact lens"
  - "human vision"
  - "the digest"
---

# This Robotic Contact Lens Can Zoom in or out Just by Blinking

![A team of scientists from the University of California San Diego created a robotic contact lens that can zoom in and out when you blink.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/robotic-contact-lens-zoom-blink.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Shutterstock/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Robotic Lens

A team of scientists from the University of California San Diego created a spy movie-esque contact lens that zooms in and out when you blink, [*New Scientist* reports](<https://www.newscientist.com/article/2211334-a-robotic-lens-can-be-controlled-by-simply-looking-around-or-blinking/>).

The researchers are hoping the lens could one day be used in visual prostheses — smart eye-wear that can act as tiny binoculars.

## Eyes Have It

The team figured out that the electrical potential between the front and back of the human eyeball changes when the eye is closed — and used it to control the contact lens.

The "biomimetic soft lens" is essentially a thin sack of salt water. The case itself is made out 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.

## Blink Twice

The researchers then programmed the robotic lens to zoom in when the eye blinks twice. Another two blinks and the lens zooms back out.

But, they say, it could also be used to help people with disabilities control other robots and machines.

"Even if your eye cannot see anything, many people can still move their eyeball and generate this electro-oculographic signal,” Shengqiang Cai, co-author of the paper that was published in the journal *Advanced Functional Materials* earlier this month, told *New Scientist*.

**READ MORE:** [A robotic lens can be controlled by simply looking around or blinking](<https://www.newscientist.com/article/2211334-a-robotic-lens-can-be-controlled-by-simply-looking-around-or-blinking/>) \[*New Scientist*\]

**More on smart lenses:** *[DARPA: This Smart Contact Lens Could Give Soldiers Superpowers](<https://futurism.com/darpa-augmented-reality-contact-lens>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)