GlassTENG: Self-Powered Triboelectric Nanogenerator based Sensing of Pulse, Jaw, and Upper Facial Activity from Everyday Glasses

Jul 16, 2026

Upload by Sage

Smart glasses maintain near-continuous skin contact at multiple arterial and muscular sites, enabling promising physiological sensing. However, long-term quantified-self use is hindered by sensor–skin discomfort (e.g., gels and adhesives) and escalating power demands that increase battery size, weight, and maintenance. GlassTENG addresses these limits with an ultra-low-power design embedding three triboelectric nanogenerators into a glasses frame, capturing arterial pulse, jaw kinematics, and upper facial activity while remaining self-powered per sensor.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

Introduction

Face-based physiological sensing via eyeglasses

Battery and energy constraints for longitudinal sensing

Energy harvesting budget for smart eyewear

GlassTENG: Self-Powered Triboelectric Nanogenerator based Sensing of Pulse, Jaw, and Upper Facial Activity from Everyday Glasses Raj N. Dave∗ [rajdave2027@u.northwestern.edu](rajdave2027@u.northwestern.edu)[ ](rajdave2027@u.northwestern.edu)VAK Embodied Systems Lab, Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois, USA Jovanis Prodanich∗ Yung-ching Lai∗ jovanisprodanich2026@u.northwestern.ed[ungching.lai@u.northwestern.edu](ungching.lai@u.northwestern.edu) VAK Embodied Systems Lab, VAK Embodied Systems Lab, Northwestern University Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois, USA Evanston, Illinois, USA Oscar Jakacki† [oscarjakacki2028@u.northwestern.edu](oscarjakacki2028@u.northwestern.edu)[ ](oscarjakacki2028@u.northwestern.edu)VAK Embodied Systems Lab, Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois, USA Stanley Lin† [stanleylin2028@u.northwestern.edu](stanleylin2028@u.northwestern.edu)[ ](stanleylin2028@u.northwestern.edu)VAK Embodied Systems Lab, Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois, USA Jack Thoene [jackthoene2025@u.northwestern.edu](jackthoene2025@u.northwestern.edu)[ ](jackthoene2025@u.northwestern.edu)VAK Embodied Systems Lab, Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois, USA arXiv :2607 .06509v 1 [ cs .HC] 7 Jul 2026 Nabil Alshurafa[nabil@northwestern.edu](nabil@northwestern.edu)[ ](nabil@northwestern.edu)Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois, USA Nivedita Arora [nivedita@northwestern.edu](nivedita@northwestern.edu)[ ](nivedita@northwestern.edu)VAK Embodied Systems Lab, Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois, USA Figure 1: GlassTENG embeds three custom-fabricated Triboelectric Nanogenerator (TENG) sensors into everyday glasses at three facial sites that are physiologically rich: nasal bridge, posterior temple, anterior temple . A 1.36􀁠W-per-channel high impedance analog front-end conditions the TENG’s voltage output, enabling simultaneous recovery of arterial pulse waveformsand six upper facial and jaw activity. Abstract Smart glasses maintain near-continuous skin contact at multiple arterial and muscular sites, making them a promising platform for physiological sensing. In practice, though, two factors make sustained daily wear and longitudinal deployment impractical for the quantified self: the discomfort of prolonged sensor–skin contact ∗ These authors contributed equally.†These authors contributed equally. (e.g., gels and adhesives) and the sensor power demands that increase battery size, weight, and maintenance burden. We present GlassTENG, an ultra-low-power sensor that embeds three customfabricated triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) into a glasses frame at the angular artery on the nasal bridge, the superficial temporal artery on an extended arm, and the temporalis muscle at the temple. Each GlassTENG sensor is self-powered in transducing mechanical energy to electrical energy and consumes 1.36 􀁠W per sensor at the analog front-end. GlassTENG enables simultaneous capture of arterial pulse waveforms, jaw kinematics (e.g., clenching, tapping, eating), and upper facial activity (e.g., blinking, eyebrow movement) . In a 20-participant user study, we achieve 93.8% accuracy across six jaw and upper facial activities and estimate heart rate with a mean absolute error of 1.82 beats per minute (BPM) relative to aground-truth chest-strap sensor in 30s windows. Together, these results establish a future pathway toward a longitudinally worn, ultra-low-power, glasses-based physiological monitoring platform. Keywords triboelectric nanogenerator, wearable sensing, smart glasses, ultralow-power, activity recognition, pulse sensing, jaw kinematics 1 Introduction The human face is a remarkably rich environment, offering varied anatomical vantage points to capture vital signs and complex actions such as heart rate [21], jaw kinematics [17, 19], eye movements [42], and facial expressions [24]. Everyday eyeglasses provide a convenient interface to capture these signals: worn da

FAQs

What problem does GlassTENG address for smart-glasses physiological sensing?

Long-term daily wear is impractical due to discomfort from prolonged sensor–skin contact and the power demands that force larger batteries and extra maintenance.

How does GlassTENG power sensing in everyday glasses?

GlassTENG embeds three custom-fabricated triboelectric nanogenerators into the glasses frame so the sensors are self-powered by converting mechanical energy into electrical energy.

What physiological signals does GlassTENG enable capturing simultaneously?

It enables simultaneous measurement of arterial pulse waveforms, jaw kinematics (such as clenching, tapping, and eating), and upper facial activity (such as blinking and eyebrow movement).

Jul 16, 2026

Upload by Sage