Google buys smart spoon for Google[X] health moonshot

Google may insist on biodegradable cutlery in its free Googleplex cafeterias, but it's looking at a far more complicated spoon for its latest Google[X] acquisition. The company has snapped up Lift Labs, creator of a special tremor-canceling spoon that can help those with Parkinson's or other neurodegenerative diseases to eat without spilling their food.

The so-called Liftware may look like nothing more than a chunky-handled implement, but it actually learns and reacts in real-time to how it's being used.

As the hand holding it shakes, sensors inside the spoon track the movement and then adjust it in reaction to compensate. For those with diseases that cause tremors, that makes the difference between being able to feed yourself or having to rely on someone else to feed you.

So, while $295 for the Liftware spoon might seem a lot, compared to the cost of a carer at mealtimes it's actually surprisingly affordable. As standard it comes with a dinner spoon attachment, but Lift Labs also offers interchangeable fork and soup spoon heads, and has more in the pipeline.

Lift Labs will continue to sell the spoon even after being acquired, but Google has big expectations for how it might further develop the technology.

"We're also going to explore how their technology could be used in other ways to improve the understanding and management of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and essential tremor," Google said in a statement.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

SOURCE Google