IoT for your eyes
9.3% of the US population wear contact lenses and 9.0% of the US population have type 2 diabetes. What does this have to do with technology? A Korean research team has figured out a way to measure blood sugar levels by embedding grapheme and metallic nano-wires into soft contact lenses, with the added function of also measuring inter-ocular pressure, a monitor for glaucoma.
Typically type 2 diabetics have to draw blood and test with indicator strips as many as 5 times/day in order to maintain correct glucose levels. This is an inconvenient and sometimes painful process, albeit essential to keeping diabetes under control. There have been a few commercial soft contact lenses that have attempted to take similar measurements using the eyes tears as a glucose measurement source, however the sensors needed limited users’ vision and have been unsuccessful. The research team at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Koreas has developed a transparent grapheme sensor that measures both blood glucose and inter-ocular pressure (high intraocular pressure can lead to glaucoma) and therefore does not limit the user’s visual range.
Does this mean you have to wear a hat containing batteries to power the sensors in your eye? No, given that the embedded wireless antenna both sends data and can receive power from a wireless source, there is no need for internal power. While still in the early stages of testing (live rabbits), the lenses continued to provide data even when modified or exposed to foreign substances in the eye. Finally, an IoT concept that has a truly practical and commercially appealing value, rather than one that saves the user from having to get out of a chair to do something. Think of the ramifications, should the testing and trials be successful, the data from your eyes, aside from being sent to your doctor, can also be sent to your refrigerator, which will say, “Dave, I am afraid I can’t open the refrigerator door right now. Your blood sugar is over 200 and that chocolate cake must stay in the refrigerator. Why don’t you ask drawer #7B to give you a rice cracker?” OK, maybe a little over-the-top, but even though it’s still in the early stages, such a device would have a very big impact on a sizable proportion of the population, and would help us to believe that IoT is less a marketing tool and more of a possible help to humanity.
Typically type 2 diabetics have to draw blood and test with indicator strips as many as 5 times/day in order to maintain correct glucose levels. This is an inconvenient and sometimes painful process, albeit essential to keeping diabetes under control. There have been a few commercial soft contact lenses that have attempted to take similar measurements using the eyes tears as a glucose measurement source, however the sensors needed limited users’ vision and have been unsuccessful. The research team at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Koreas has developed a transparent grapheme sensor that measures both blood glucose and inter-ocular pressure (high intraocular pressure can lead to glaucoma) and therefore does not limit the user’s visual range.
Does this mean you have to wear a hat containing batteries to power the sensors in your eye? No, given that the embedded wireless antenna both sends data and can receive power from a wireless source, there is no need for internal power. While still in the early stages of testing (live rabbits), the lenses continued to provide data even when modified or exposed to foreign substances in the eye. Finally, an IoT concept that has a truly practical and commercially appealing value, rather than one that saves the user from having to get out of a chair to do something. Think of the ramifications, should the testing and trials be successful, the data from your eyes, aside from being sent to your doctor, can also be sent to your refrigerator, which will say, “Dave, I am afraid I can’t open the refrigerator door right now. Your blood sugar is over 200 and that chocolate cake must stay in the refrigerator. Why don’t you ask drawer #7B to give you a rice cracker?” OK, maybe a little over-the-top, but even though it’s still in the early stages, such a device would have a very big impact on a sizable proportion of the population, and would help us to believe that IoT is less a marketing tool and more of a possible help to humanity.
Smart Contact Lenses - Source: UNIST
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