Scientists from the University of Pittsburgh filed a patent application for a pair glasses that monitor and auto trigger the eyelid to blink. The device one day might become useful for people with central and peripheral neurological damage, who have either absent or diminished eye-blink reflex..
From the abstract attached to the patent application:
The method includes determining whether the functional muscle has contracted, generating a contraction signal if it is determined that it has contracted, and causing the denervated muscle to contract following the generation of the contraction signal. Also, an apparatus for stimulating such a subject including one or more sensing devices operatively associated with the functional muscle and one or more stimulating devices operatively associated with the denervated muscle. One or more of the sensing devices generates one or more first signals in response to activity indicating functional muscle contraction. The one or more stimulating devices are made to cause the denervated muscle to contract in response to the generation of the first signals.
Patent Application for METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STIMULATING A DENERVATED MUSCLE…
(Hat tip: Sci Fi Tech)