Google wants to inject this gadget directly into your eyeball

It's a concept likely to bring a tear to your eye.

Back in October 2014, Google filed a patent for a gadget described as "an intra-ocular device [that] includes an electronic lens that can be controlled to control the overall optical power of the device. The device can be installed within a flexible polymeric material shaped to conform to the inside surface of a lens capsule of an eye."

That's tech talk for a tiny device - complete with storage, sensors, radio, battery and an electronic lens - that would replace your existing natural lens. It's not described as a tool for super sight, but rather an aid for restoring sight in those patients that might have a problem with their natural lens.

The device would be installed by "injecting a fluid into a lens capsule of an eye, wherein a natural lens of the eye has been removed from the lens capsule". The new device would then take over the process of focusing light into the eye's retina. It would be powered by "energy harvesting antenna" - shorthand for "something we haven't invented just yet".

It's an amazing concept, and one that shows how the minds of Google and parent company Alphabet are busy working out the tech that'll be changing the world in decades to come. 

For now, we'll stick with our regular contacts. 

[Via: Forbes]