Google is currently testing a smart contact lens that will help measure glucose levels in tears to help warn people suffering from diabetes if their sugar levels are above or below normal, Channel News Asia reports.
"We're now testing a smart contact lens that's built to measure glucose levels in tears," said project co-founders Brian Otis and Babak Parviz. The lens they are working on uses a tiny wireless chip and miniaturized glucose sensor that are embedded between two layers of soft contact lens material. Otis and Parviz claims the prototypes have undergone clinical tests and talks are underway with the US Food and Drug Administration.
However, as of late, the project is still considered to be on its early days and partners are being sought to make the lenses readily available in the market. "These partners will use our technology for a small contact lens and develop apps that would make the measurements available to the wearer and the doctor," they said. The researchers are also looking into integrating tiny lights that would warn when blood sugar levels go above or below required levels.
"As you can imagine, tears are hard to collect and study," team members of the Google X lab claimed. "We wondered in miniaturized electronics - think chips and sensors so small they look like bits of glitter, and an antenna thinner than a human hair- might be way to crack the mystery of tear glucose and measure it with accuracy." "We've always said that we'd seek out projects that seem a bit speculative or strange," Otis and Parviz said.
