AI smart glasses with health tracking: heart rate and eye strain

Meta and others already offer basic health features, such as logging nutrition. The glasses recognise the food you eat and record it. Alibaba has gone further with its new Qwen line of AI glasses. They do what Meta's glasses do, plus extra sensors.

What can the Qwen N1 Pro measure?

The Qwen N1 Pro has sensors for skin temperature, blood oxygen saturation and heart rate. That is the core job of smart rings and smartwatches. It also has an eye-tracking module with a camera smaller than 2 mm. The glasses follow your eye movements, so you can control the interface with your gaze, and they can pick up information about eye fatigue.

Stasis and glasses that power themselves

Startup Stasis has shown a prototype of eye-tracking glasses built around eye health. It is not on sale yet. The glasses measure eye fatigue, focus and overall eye condition, and the company says they can tell whether you have rested enough or need another break. Pre-orders are open, and shipping is planned for March or April next year.

Researchers at Northwestern University in the US have built glasses with tiny sensors that turn facial movement into electricity. Blinking or the small pulse of an artery can supply power. Such a design could one day track heart health, fatigue and eating habits without a bulky battery or frequent charging.

All of this is early. But health sensors have one more advantage: they work without an outward-facing camera, so they avoid much of the privacy and cheating controversy that surrounds camera glasses.