Photo credit: Marc Teyssier
Researcher Marc Teyssier collaborated with Marion Koelle, Paul Strohmeier, Bruno Fruchard and Jürgen Steimle at the Saarland University Human-Computer Interaction Lab to develop Eyecam, a design prototype that explores the potential future of sensing devices. This is not a standard webcam that only looks like a human eye, but one that actually blinks, looks around and even observes you.
It consists of three main parts: the skin, robotic muscles, and the eyeball. The actuated eyeball comes complete with a seeing pupil, actuated eyelids and actuated eyebrow. When turned on, their coordinated movement mimics realistic human-like motion, thanks to six servo-motors located optimally to reproduce the different eye muscles, all controlled by an Arduino Nano. There’s a small camera directly inside the pupil capable of capturing a high-resolution image (720p60), connected to a Raspberry Pi Zero computer.
- UNCOMPRESSED FULL HD 1080P WEBCAM — Experience smooth and vibrant professional quality with the highest fidelity through uncompressed Full HD 1080p 60FPS video. Works great for streaming, gaming, recording, video calling, conferencing, and online school. Field of View 103°, 90°, 80°. Sensitivity: -38 dB. Audio Codec: 16 bit 48 kHz. Sensitivity: -38db
- UNCOMPRESSED FULL HD 1080P WEBCAM — Experience smooth and vibrant professional quality with the highest fidelity through uncompressed Full HD 1080p 60FPS video. Works great for streaming, gaming, recording, video calling, conferencing, and online school. Field of View 103°, 90°, 80°. Sensitivity: -38 dB. Audio Codec: 16 bit 48 kHz. Sensitivity: -38db
- SUPERIOR LOW-LIGHT PERFORMANCE — Reduces graininess and brings out details to show the person in the best light even in darker environments. The Razer Kiyo Pro’s light sensor performs better in more conditions compared to 4K webcams, which rely on professional lighting gear to achieve the same result
The device is not only designed to look like an eye but also to act like an eye. To make the movements feel believable and natural, the device reproduces the physiological unconscious behavior and conscious behavior. Like a Human, Eyecam is always blinking and the eyelids dynamically adapt to movements of the eyeball: when Eyecam looks up, the top eyelid opens widely while the lower one closes completely. Eyecam can be autonomous and react on its own to external stimuli, such as the presence of users in front of it,” said its creator.
