First smart contact lens

The first “smart” contact lenses have been developed by the minds of Google's scientists in Google X – the Google facility set up to explore technological advancements. Initially built to monitor glucose levels in the eye's tear system to help monitor diabetes, the prototype lenses can also be used to actively provide active “close-up” vision for ageing eyes suffering from the condition Presbyopia, in which the eye can no longer focus quickly when moving from long-range to close-up objects. The contact lens is created by sandwiching sensors, microchips and antennas in a soft contact lens to connect directly with the wearer’s mobile phone to monitor blood-sugar levels. Google has also filed patents to use this miniaturized technology for embedding a camera in the lens. The prototype lens was announced in January 2014, and healthcare giant Novatis AG has signed a licensing deal to take this technology into general manufacture.