Google’s smart contact lens: What it does and how it works

Google is working on a smart contact lens prototype that monitors glucose levels in tears. The technology could end finger pricks for diabetics. It still needs to be tested and proved accurate and safe to win FDA approval.

Wearable devices are already making technology much more intimate than once seemed possible, but Google has kicked it up to a whole new level. The company has announced  a project to make a smart contact lens. But this gadget isn’t going to be used to deliver your e-mail straight into your skull — at least not yet. The project is working to tackle one of the biggest health problems facing the country today: diabetes.

Given the public wariness about wearable devices and their capabilities for collecting data, allowing the company to get that close raises the question: How will Google handle this data? Or, for that matter, how can any company stepping into a new world of collecting sensitive medical data deal with the security concerns?

It’s a question that Google officials have clearly thought a lot about, said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist at the Center for Democracy & Technology, who was briefed on the lens before the company’s Thursday announcement. Hall said that Google assured him that the data would not be added to the company’s banks of personal information gathered from other services.

“The data will never hit Google’s servers,” he said. “That’s a forward-thinking affirmative claim that they’re making. That is important.”

The soft contact lens that Google is unveiling — it’s still a prototype — houses a sensor that measures the glucose levels in tears. A tiny pinhole in the lens lets tear fluid seep over the glucose monitor to get regular readings. Right now, the company said, it can get a level reading once every second.The lens also features a tiny antenna, capacitor and controller so that the information gathered from the lens can move from the eye to a device — such as a handheld monitor — where that data can be read and analyzed. It will draw its power from that device and communicate with it using a wireless technology known as RFID.

Given the sensitive nature of the data, Hall said, Google has also said it will make sure any data transferred from the lens cannot be manipulated — something that could have potentially fatal consequences if patients inject the wrong amount of insulin. Google has also worked to build in safeguards against other kinds of problems, such as a piece that is similar to a circuit breaker to prevent the lens from overheating.

The National Diabetes Education Program  estimates that 382 million people worldwide and 25.8 million Americans have diabetes. That means that every day — multiple times a day — more than 8 percent of people in this country must take time out to prick themselves to test their blood levels.

“It’s disruptive, and it’s painful,” Google project co-founders Brian Otis and Babak Parviz said in the blog post. “And, as a result, many people with diabetes check their blood glucose less often than they should.”

Physicians and medical researchers have thought about ways to measure glucose through the fluid in the eye for years, but have had trouble figuring out how best to capture and analyze those tears. Some companies, such as EyeSense , have developed their own products to embed sensors in the eye to measure these levels, while other companies, such as Freedom Meditech,  have explored measuring glucose levels through the eye by using light.

Parviz — who once led the Google Glass team — and Otis were colleagues at the University of Washington before moving over to Google’s department for developing “moonshot” projects, Google[x]. The company is still in the early days of the smart contact lens project, but officials said that it is in discussions with the Food and Drug Administration to figure out how to bring the product to market.

Hall is excited about the product but said that if the device interacts with apps from other companies, consumers will have to trust their security, too.

“One thing I do worry about is mobile security itself. It is a miasma, and the app that’s developed to use with this is probably going to be made by someone else,” he said. “Whoever is making that app will have to answer those questions. But they haven’t been answered yet because we haven’t gotten that far down the line.”

Google’s smart contact lenses for diabetics

Google’s smart contact lenses for diabetics: Another step towards the Google-powered cyborg

Google X, the secretive research lab famed for its work on Glass and Google’s self-driving cars, has unveiled its next product: Smart contact lenses. The first smart contact lens, aimed at diabetics, takes a glucose level reading every second from the tears that wash over your eye when you blink, and transmits that data wirelessly to a nearby device. Google doesn’t say what device, but presumably a smartphone or Google Glass. Yes, if Google X has its way, we will soon all look like cyborgs, our bodies becoming interconnected networks of implants and augmentations.

Currently, if you have diabetes, you generally have to perform finger-stick blood tests throughout the day. At best this is inconvenient, at worst it’s disruptive and painful — but either way, if you want to safely manage your blood sugar levels, it must be done. Due to the inconvenience factor, though, many diabetics don’t test themselves as often as they should — which then leads to all sorts of nasty situations, such as passing out. There are other ways of reliably testing blood sugar levels, such as your tears — but, as you can imagine, collecting tears is no easier than pricking your finger. Unless you have a smart contact lens…

Concept art for a multi-pixel wireless contact lens display.

With Google’s smart contact lens equipped, if your glucose level dips or spikes, a warning can be transmitted instantly to a nearby display — your smartphone, smartwatch, or head-mounted display (Google Glass). Future versions of the smart lens might even have a built-in LED that lights up if your glucose level crosses above or below a given threshold. This is obviously much easier and convenient than regularly sticking your finger. (Read: What is transhumanism, or, what does it mean to be human?)

Single pixel contact lens display, in a rabbit’s eye.

While it might sound incredibly advanced, the technology in Google’s smart contact lens isn’t that wild. There’s basically just two components, sandwiched between two layers of contact lens material: An antenna and rectifier, and a small glucose sensor. The problem with smart contact lenses, though, is the power source. Google glosses over this point because the current solution is rather ungraceful: Wireless power transfer from a nearby power source. Because of the tiny antenna, the power source probably has to be very close. Google Glass would work — though, at this point in its development, we’re probably not talking about anything nearly as graceful — it’s probably just stationary lab test. (Diabetics strapped to a chair, contact lens inserted, and then tested.)

The good news is, Google X has the best person in the world when it comes to smart contact lenses — Babak Parviz. Way back in 2011, Parviz made a wireless smart contact lens with a single-pixel LED display (pictured right) Google X was obviously impressed with his work and picked him up. Smart contact lenses, due to rather unique placement — they’re able to see the world, and display information to the wearer — are one of the most exciting areas of cyborg implantation and augmentation. Their one weakness is that they are heavily constrained by their size and transparency requirement. Still, if Google X can find a graceful way of powering smart contact lenses, this could be a very exciting endeavor indeed.

SMART CONTACT LENS

Google unveils 'smart contact lens' to measure glucose levels

Google said the sensors on the smart contact lens are so small they look like bits of glitter

Google has said it is testing a "smart contact lens" that can help measure glucose levels in tears.

It uses a "tiny" wireless chip and a "miniaturised" glucose sensor embedded between two layers of lens material.

The firm said it is also working on integrating tiny LED lights that could light up to indicate that glucose levels have crossed certain thresholds.

But it added that "a lot more work" needed to be done to get the technology ready for everyday use.

"It's still early days for this technology, but we've completed multiple clinical research studies which are helping to refine our prototype," the firm said in a blogpost.

"We hope this could someday lead to a new way for people with diabetes to manage their disease."

'Exciting development'

Many global firms have been looking to expand in the wearable technology sector - seen by many as a key growth area in the coming years.

Various estimates have said the sector is expected to grow by between $10bn and $50bn (£6bn and £31bn) in the next five years.

Within the sector, many firms have been looking specifically at technology targeted at healthcare.

Google's latest foray with the smart contact lens is aimed at a sector where consumer demand for such devices is expected to grow.

According to the International Diabetes Federation, one in ten people across the world's population are forecast to have diabetes by 2035.

People suffering from the condition need to monitor their glucose levels regularly as sudden spikes or drops are dangerous. At present, the majority of them do so by testing drops of blood.

Google said it was testing a prototype of the lens that could "generate a reading once per second".

"This is an exciting development for preventive healthcare industry," Manoj Menon, managing director of consulting firm Frost & Sullivan told the BBC.

"It is likely to spur a range of other innovations towards miniaturizing technology and using it in wearable devices to help people monitor their bodies better."

Open innovation?

Google said it was working with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to bring the product to mainstream use.

It added that it would look for partners "who are experts in bringing products like this to market".

Google said it would work with these partners to develops apps aimed at making the measurements taken by the lens available to the wearer and their doctor.

Mr Menon said it was "commendable" that Google was willing to work with other partners even before the product was commercially ready.

"Their open innovation approach is going to help accelerate the development of this product and get it out to the market much faster," he said.

Other firms have also been looking towards wearable products that help monitor the health of the wearer.

Earlier this month, a gadget called Sensible Baby was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. It is a sensor put in an infant's night clothes that tracks their temperature, orientation and movement.

It sounds a smartphone app alarm if it detects a problem.

Several smartwatches that can monitor data by studying key indicators such as the the wearer's heart rate and temperature have also been launched.

Last year, Japanese firm Sony filed a patent for a 'SmartWig', with healthcare cited as one of its potential uses.

It said the wig could use a combination of sensors to help collect information such as temperature, pulse and blood pressure of the wearer.