Google Contact Lens is a smart contact lens project announced by Google on

16 January 2014. The project aims to assist people withdiabetes by constantly

measuring the glucose levels in their tears.[1] The project is being carried out by
the life sciences division of Google X and it is currently being tested using
prototypes.[2]
Contents
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1 Design

2 Announcement

3 Response

4 References

Design[edit]
The lens consists of a wireless chip and a miniaturized glucose sensor. A tiny
pinhole in the lens allows for tear fluid to seep into the sensor to measure blood
sugar levels.[3] Both of the sensors are embedded between two soft layers
of lens material. The electronics lie outside of both the pupil and the iris so there
is no damage to the eye. There is a wireless antenna inside of the contact that is
thinner than a humans hair, which will act as a controller to communicate
information to the wireless device. The antenna will gather, read, and analyze
data. Power will be drawn from the device which will communicate data via the
wireless technology RFID.[4] Plans to add small LED lights that could warn the
wearer by lighting up when the glucose levels have crossed above or below
certain thresholds have been mentioned to be under consideration.[2] Challenges
presented by such a technology are that the LED lights contain the toxic
metal arsenic.[5] The performance of the contact lenses in windy environments
and teary eyes is unknown.[3]
The prototypes being tested can generate a reading once per second.[2]

Announcement[edit]
On 16 January 2014 Google announced that, for the past 18 months,[6] they had
been working on a contact lens that could help people with diabetes by making it
continually check their glucose levels. The idea was originally funded by
the National Science Foundation[3] and was first brought to Microsoft.[4] The
product was created by Brian Otis and Babak Parviz who were both members of
the electrical engineering faculty at the University of Washington prior to working
in Googles secret lab, Google[x].[4] Google noted in their official announcement
that scientists have long looked into how certain body fluids can help track
glucose levels easier, but as tears are hard to collect and study, using them was
never really an option. They also mentioned that the project is currently being
discussed with the FDA while still noting that there is a lot more work left to do
before the product can be released for general usage, which is said to happen in
five years at best,[6] and that they are looking for partners who would use the
technology for the lens by developing apps that would make the measurements
available to the wearers and their respective doctors.[2] The partners would also
be expected to use this research and technology to develop advanced medical
and vision devices for future generations.[3]

Response[edit]
Palo Alto Medical Foundation endocrinologist Dr. Larry Levin commented on how
remarkable and important it is that Google is getting into the medical field, and
that he is very excited to be able to offer his patients a pain-free alternative to
either pricking their fingers or using a continuous glucose monitor.[7] Research
has proven that the contact lens method is less painful and time consuming for
diabetics than the traditional finger pricking.[5] Further comments by others include
the criticism of tears not containing the same amount of measurable glucose as
blood.[3]