Finger pricks and careful eating are an important part of the daily routine for most people with diabetes. While automated glucose meters are a growing option, they can still create discomfort and other inconveniences.

Google[x] wants to go in a totally different direction with a project announced today: smart contact lenses that can detect glucose levels via the wearer’s tears and alert them when levels dip or rise.

“It’s still early days for this technology, but we’ve completed multiple clinical research studies which are helping to refine our prototype. We hope this could someday lead to a new way for people with diabetes to manage their disease,” project co-founders Brian Otis and Babak Parviz wrote in a blog post.

This isn’t the first smart contact lens, and several options already exist for people interested in monitoring glaucoma. But Parviz, who also leads the Google Glass team, is…