Google, smart contact lenses to control diabetes

Two giants: Google and Novartis, the Swiss multinational company operating in the pharmaceutical sector, together for the development of a ‘smart’ contact lens that could not only improve vision impaired by certain eye diseases, but also help diabetics control glycemia.

Presented last January, now they are still a prototype. The project involves the insertion of the microchip, miniaturized electronics and wireless antenna inside the lens that will make the device a true revolution for people with diabetes. In fact, the ‘intelligent lens’ will be able to perform one reading per second, thanks to the analysis of the calculated values through the tears through a microscopic glucose sensor. The system can then warn the patient in real time via LEDs embedded in the device.

Today, those with diabetes should monitor the level of glucose in the blood does not want to die, carrying equipment for the analysis that force to prick the finger on a regular basis – explain Babak Parviz and Brian Otis, the engineers in charge of the project.

According to the agreement between Google and Novartis, as well as monitoring of insulin, a second area of focus will be given to the possibility to correct presbyopia, restoring the focus up close. It is estimated that 50 percent of the population of developed countries is farsighted.

t will take, however, at least five years before they get to be a marketable product. The lenses are developed in the famous Division Google X, the birthplace of the Glass and all projects of robotics and artificial intelligence in Mountain View.
It is hoped that the contact lenses are able to help the 382 million diabetics in the world, who need to exercise firm control the level of blood sugar.