Google developing a 'smart contact lens' to help diabetes sufferers

We get it. Smart phones and smart watches make our lives more productive. Smart bands and smart fit-wear can potentially help us monitor our heartrates during exercise. So what’s next? How can tech developers top what we already have on the market?

Earlier this month, super tech-giant Google announced that they are currently developing a smart contact lens which will be used to help diabetes sufferers monitor and manage their glucose levels.

Gone will be the days when people with diabetes must prick their fingers to collect drops of blood to check their blood glucose levels.

According to project co-founders Brian Otis and Babak Parviz, their contact lens will include a built-in wireless chip and a miniature glucose sensor which will measure sugar levels in the wearer’s tears.

The contact lens will generate a glucose level reading once per second and can be used as a warning device when the user’s levels reach a dangerous point.

Otis and Parviz also said they would like to integrate tiny LED lights into the lens, which will light up if glucose levels are above or below a certain threshold.