Google’s Smart Contact Lens Might Finally Have a Release Date
We’re all about our wearables here at Brit + Co, but there’s one wearable we’ve had our eye(s) very literally on since the first we heard of it: Google’s smart contact lens. Each new development has made us that much more excited about the possibilities for this new health tech innovation and now it’s looking more likely than ever that we’ll actually see these contacts on the market.
Google has teamed up with Novartis, a European drug maker, to turn their prototype into a product. This week, Novartis announced that their eye car unit Alcon made a deal to license the blood sugar measuring lenses, which will be able to track glucose levels in the wearer with a tiny wireless chip and miniaturized glucose sensor. While the company acknowledges that similar attempts at noninvasive glucose tests have failed, they think the techie team at Google just might be the right ones for the job. Yeah, we’d bet on them, too!
Don’t start looking for them on the shelves just yet, though. The deal brings with it some news about the development of this project – that it still has a long way to go, and will likely take “years, not months.”
The smart, glucose measuring lenses aren’t the only ones Google is developing. They are also working on a pair with microcameras in them designed to help your eyes focus, like the autofocus lens of a camera. They would help you readjust your vision when changing from near to far objects, helpful for people with various eye conditions and a big step (blink?) in the direction of saying bye to Glass in frame form and hello to Google Glass-like lenses of the future.
What do you think about the newest news on these smart lenses? Would you wear smart contact lenses? Talk to us about it in the comments below!
