A facial wearable robot with eyelid gating mechanism for supporting eye blink

Abstract

Facial paralysis causes loss of control over facial muscles such as the orbicularis oculi which closes the eyelid. People with facial paralysis thus are not able to blink which could cause dry eye and/or permanent damage to the cornea. Also, during the convalescent phase of facial paralysis, there is possibility to get Synkinesis because of inappropriate rehabilitation. However, few devices for rehabilitation or tools for activity of daily life for them are available. We propose a novel approach for supporting eyelid gating movement with facial wearable robotic technology. This robot has novel eyelid gating mechanism made of silicon, and provides suitable support for eyelid gating movement using its deformation, triggered by wink detection on healthy side. We control the deformation designed to eyelid movement with simple rotation movement. We evaluated the proposed system with 2 healthy participants and verified the feasibility of eyelid gating support for people with facial paralysis.