Forget Google Glass; Check Out Their Contact Lenses

Google Glass has been making the news for awhile now thanks to everything from technical innovation to fashion critiques to privacy concerns. Now Google is trying its hand at electronic contact lenses.

The company has developed contact lenses that contain transistors and antenna, and can monitor the glucose levels of diabetics and wirelessly transmit them to a handheld computer or phone. The technology would eliminate the needle sticks now required to test glucose levels.

The contact lenses were created in the Google X lab, but the project was originally initiated at the University of Washington. The chips in the lens pull their power from incoming RF waves, and can generate one glucose reading per second. The device reads the glucose level in the wearer’s tears.

According to the company:

We’re also investigating the potential for this to serve as an early warning for the wearer, so we’re exploring integrating tiny LED lights that could light up to indicate that glucose levels have crossed above or below certain thresholds. It’s still early days for this technology, but we’ve completed multiple clinical research studies which are helping to refine our prototype. We hope this could someday lead to a new way for people with diabetes to manage their disease.

According to an AP story on the lenses, Google is just one of several companies working on less painful ways for diabetics to monitor their health.

You can read more at Google’s blog.

Source: Associated Press