Friday, January 17, 2014

Google unveils 'smart' lens to read the glucose ... - 20minutes.fr

No, it is not a futuristic miniature version of Google Glass. Thursday, Google unveiled a “smart contact lens”, a lens with a sensor for measuring the concentration of glucose in the blood by analyzing the composition of the tears of diabetic patients. The project is incubated in the lab X already behind the autonomous car and glasses connected.

Today measuring blood glucose is mainly by pricking the finger to obtain a drop of blood several times a day. Because it is cumbersome and uncomfortable, many patients do not monitor their blood frequently and risk of fainting or falling into a coma, according to the company.

lens Google wants to change that by measuring blood glucose once per second. For now, it is only a prototype, but the company claims to be in contact with the U.S. administration Drug Administration (FDA) for possible certification. Google is still experimenting with LEDs of different colors to alert the patient.

From current wireless

This is not the first intelligent lens. MIT works including other applications. Google has integrated miniature components, not on a printed circuit but between two flexible layers “biocompatible.”

Babak Parviz

, working in partnership with Microsoft before joining Google, do not book details on the power supply. However, one of his former presentations provides the answer: the system uses radio waves to transfer both data and create current induction via a coil. This means that the patient should use an antenna, probably mounted on the side of his head, to feed the lens 3 microwatts required.

next step? Is to integrate a display source to the lens. Development so close to the eye, is a problem and researchers must outwit filters. For now, they are limited to a few pixels and it will be years before such a version of Google Glass. But one thing is certain, the era of increased human has indeed begun.

>> The presentation of Babak Parviz on smart lenses (2012)

* Philippe Berry

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