UK Edition
Scientists have created a ‘smart’ contact lens that could help track the wearer’s health and monitor diseases such as diabetes and glaucoma.
Researchers at the Seoul University in South Korea created the soft contact lens to monitor fluid in the eyes for biomarkers that indicate the presence or severity of a particular disease.
The lenses are also able to be charged wirelessly, with a technique called ‘direct ink writing’ used to build tiny supercapacitors in the lens that can store electrical energy.
The lens can then be charged using an antenna system, meaning it can operate without needing to be charged externally.
The researchers, lead by Jihun Park, said that the lens ‘performed reliably’ in a live test with both rabbits and a human ‘test pilot’ that wore the lens for 10 minutes.
Park said that there were no noticeable adverse effects and that the lens did not obstruct the wearer’s vision as the team tested all of its functions.
The research could be a breakthrough in smart contact lens technology, which has been studied extensively for medical applications and augmented reality.
South Korean technology giant Samsung recently patented a contact lens that could take pictures and video simply by blinking.
But according to the new research, smart contact lenses have thus far been limited by “the large size, rigidity, and heat produced by conventional batteries”, as well as making them comfortable for wearers. Verily, a company owned by Google parent Alphabet, halted its own smart contact lens project after it ran into obstacles collecting reliable data.
But the new manufacturing process used in the creation of this soft lens, which ‘writes’ shapes using layered paste, could make them viable for longer term use.