A profile of Apple’s Exploratory Design Group reveals how teams are collaborating covertly on cutting-edge technologies, such as the frequently rumored non-invasive glucose sensor for the Apple Watch.
Apple is working on a noninvasive blood glucose monitoring device and long-term plans to integrate the technology into the well-known Apple Watch. The device is said to be powered by two technologies, silicon photonics, and optical absorption spectroscopy, and is intended to measure the reflection of laser light directed into a region beneath the skin in order to determine glucose levels.
Apple is said to have tested the technology with hundreds of users. Although the sources claim that Apple tested the technology under the guise of a startup, Avolonte Health, it doesn’t seem that info from the trials is publicly accessible, so it is not known how well it worked. Apple has yet to formally confirm this information.
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In order to create new products and technologies that might one day be sold to the general public, Apple has a number of groups operating within its company. The ultra-secretive Exploratory Design Group is described as a small group that functions in some ways like a start-up mini Apple.
According to Mark Gurman’s “Power On” newsletter for Bloomberg, the XDG, which has a few hundred workers, is much smaller than the Special Projects Group, which is responsible for the Apple Car. Additionally, it is much smaller than the Technology Development Group, which has 1,000 members and is developing Apple’s mixed-reality device.
The small XDG, made up of “engineers and academic types,” operates similarly to Alphabet’s Moonshot team in that they are provided with enormous resources to test out pretty much any concept. Instead of focusing on new iterations of current products, XDG explores completely original concepts to see if they are workable or pointless endeavors.
The group was founded by late Apple engineering fellow Bill Arthas with the goal of creating novel battery designs and low-power processor technologies. Additionally, it is believed to be working on next-generation AR and VR headset display technologies to aid those with eye diseases, as well as the glucose monitor.
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The XDG performs some functions similar to those of a miniature Apple, notwithstanding being a very tiny organization in comparison to the powerhouse that is Apple itself. Members of the team operating on specific projects in the XDG are not permitted to talk about the projects with other members who aren’t on the same team, similar to the way each Apple division can maintain work privately from other employees within the business.
Individuals in the group are arranged according to skill sets rather than specific projects, so one person may find themselves engaging in several projects at once while still being required to keep confidentiality.
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