2. Google Contact Lens is a smart contact
lens project announced by Google on 16
January 2014.
The project aims to assist people
with diabetes by constantly measuring the
glucose levels in their tears.
3.
4.
5. SOFT CONTACT LENS:
Encapsulates electronic signals
SENSOR:
Detects glucose in tears.
CHIPANDANTENNA:
Recieves power and sends information.
6. DESIGN
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.
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 human’s hair, which will act as a controller
7. The antenna will gather, read, and analyze data.
Power will be drawn from the device which will
communicate data via the wireless
technology RFID(Radio Frequency Identification).
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.
Challenges presented by such a technology are that
the LED lights contain the toxic metal arsenic.
The performance of the contact lenses in windy
environments and teary eyes is unknown
8. CURRENT METHOD OF MONITORING GLUCOSE LEVEL
pricking their fingers.
living with a thick needle embedded in their stomach.
ADVANTAGE OF GOOGLE CONTACT LENS
Research has proven that the contact lens method is less
painful and time consuming for diabetics than the
traditional finger pricking.
9. ANNOUNCEMENT
On 16 January 2014 Google announced that, for the past 18
months,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[2] and was first brought to Microsoft.
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 Google’s secret lab, Google[x].
10. 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,[5] 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.