Google Developing Contact Lens to Aid People with Diabetes

There sure has been a lot of tech announced recently aiming to benefit our well-being. Months ago, we discovered that Microsoft has been hard at work on a sensor-equipped bra, and during CES, we saw Intel tout its support behind “making everything smart”. Now, we learn of Google’s work on developing a sensor-equipped contact lens designed to aid those with diabetes.

The idea is that when wearing these contact lenses, the sensors could detect when blood sugar levels are too high, and then notify the wearer – presumably via their mobile phone or perhaps some piece of wearable tech. This is the kind of technology that gets me excited, because it kills two birds with one stone and has a very important purpose. Those who don’t need contact lenses could still wear them, though I’m not sure the number of people who would opt for that would be too high.

Credit: suanie / Flickr

Interestingly, Microsoft had been sponsoring this very same project as Google, and for longer, but for some reason didn’t want to overtake it like Google has done. This is a bit strange, as Microsoft should clearly look to beef up its overall portfolio given the major shifts the industry’s been seeing lately. I admit that I find contact lenses that aide those with diabetes to be a little more important than a digital sports bra, but that could be just me.

It’ll be interesting to see where this goes. It’ll also be interesting to see if contact lenses like these could be used to detect other things. I could use a pair to tell me if I’m overweight or not, because I refuse to believe it otherwise.