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Show HN: An offline desktop companion to help maintain a healthy blink rhythm (eyesrhythm.com)

3 points by prnysoni ↗ HN
Profession like software engineer, mechanical / graphics designer takes a lot of strain on your eyes, observing minute details for hours and hours on screen can significantly reduce the blink rate which you might not even notice until it gets irreversibly painful, leaving you with dry eyes. I am already a victim of it, working 20 years as a research engineer in computer vision, zooming into pixel level details to hand craft algorithms. Now the doctors says its only regular use of lubricating drops can keep your eyes safe.

Now with AI and available fantastic libraries it's possible to play safe so that your body does not pay the price of your profession. EyesRhythm is build to help you keep the blink rhythm healthy by giving small audio / visual indication to maintain healthy blink rhythm not just by monitoring healthy blink rate but also keeping a watch on how rhythmic they are.

EyeRhythm also has a visual log for the neck movement. It is also capable to automatically track the face using multiple webcams that you might have on your working desk to get the best view of your eyes for accurate blink detection.

Most importantly it works completely local no internet required.

26 comments

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pluc
I had an employer who did that inadvertently by taking screenshots of the entire desktop fleet every hour (or was it 30 mins?). Things would freeze for a second and then you would blink.
absoluteunit1
This is a great idea and can help with dry eye.

Many people who work in front of a computer have dry eye which can be literally be solved by blinking more.

Great idea

prnysoni
Thanks! Welcome to have your feedback.
splittydev
Really cool idea, but I'm very careful with installing non-OSS stuff on my computer that records my webcam 24/7. If this was OSS, I'd probably use it.
prnysoni
Thanks for the feedback. I totally respect the sentiment when it comes to privacy. The repo is now public available under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0. https://github.com/pranaycv/EyeRhythm

It's still not OSS, but the repo is now public to verify what webcam does and also possibly contribute and give suggestions so that it can be improved for better cause. Hope that helps.

phyzome
Hey, PolyForm! That's my first time seeing it in the wild. I love Kyle Mitchell's work on contracts.
prnysoni
Glad you spotted it. PolyForm seemed to me like a good fit for what I wanted to.
sam_goody
I vibe-coded such an app for windows, which blurs the screen after four seconds (adjustable) until you blink. If there is interest, I will clean it up and post it to Github.
wolfy1993
I would love that.

Less so I can use it on my own device, but I feel this could be a lot of fun on my wife's.

prnysoni
Always interesting to see different ways of tackling the same problem.
joshdavham
Cool idea!

I will note that since I started wearing contacts, I now have to blink more often in order to prevent my contacts from drying out. This acts as a sorta natural forcing function for blinking at a more healthy rate haha

prnysoni
That's really interesting use case which I never thought. Eager to know your experience with it.
kylecazar
I like the idea. As someone mentioned, dry eye is a problem for me too and I wonder if I can ditch the artificial tears with a healthier blink cadence.

Kind of off-topic, the screenshot example has 12.5 hours as the screen time. Are people using their main/work computer for that long in a single day? On a particularly digital day, maybe all of my screen time across all devices work/personal hits 10. And I think it's a lot!

Fire-Dragon-DoL
I wish there was a Linux version!
WanderZil
The repo's README lists Linux support through a browser or pywebview. I haven't tried either, so I don't know how they compare with the packaged Mac and Windows builds.
[dead] jz1p
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erikvanoosten
Amazing! I have wanted exactly this app for years. Thanks!

What do you think of making the screen black for a split second when blinking is over due?

prnysoni
Great to know that it resonates your need. Making screen black for split seconds is also really good idea, just wanted to make the work uninterruptible so kept if small sound or icon turning orange. However, can definitely give that as an option. Thanks for your feedback.
loveTech
Congrats for the launch! I really like the Ocular Rhythm Index and Poise dial that turn blink rate and head direction into a quiet desk companion? Would a demo video help you reach more people and get the product adopted? If so, feel free to try Fluxcut (www.fluxcut.dev) where the demo video in the landing page is made by Fluxcut.