Well, it had to happen. Strangely I was just expounding the possibilities of such a device to my wife, Chrissy, just a few days ago. Qualcom and the X-Prize organisation have put up a ten-million dollar prize for the team who succeeds in creating a "Medical Tricorder" similar to the type used by Doctor Leonard McCoy in the original Star Trek series.
The device should weigh no more than 2.2 kilos so bulkier than that of the good doctor, should be able to scan and analyse a patients vital signs and to diagnose fifteen conditions over a short period of use.
My own view is that this sort of device is well within reach without a vast amount of research. Given that modern smartphones sport multi-processor CPU's, huge memory, internet connectivity and are already packed with peripherals I see no problem in adding to the range of peripherals available and getting the prize.
I would begin with a normal smartphone architecture, add an infra-red camera, an ultrasound that could do scanning using the accelerometers for position referencing. I would interface in an add-on wrist sphygmomanometer (blood pressure doohickey) via a bluetooth connection, similarly a blood-oxygen clip to go on an earlobe. A super sensitive microphone and a nice DSP for listening to lungs and heartbeat with decent frequency analysis software for listening to heart valve noises, gas analysis and a set of really good macro lenses for looking into eyes that could even double as a microscope.
Imagine all that in a SIRI style relationship with a back-end system capable of doing differential diagnosis based on the experiences of a nice fat medical database and you're done!
Hey, somebody give me a job running the team and I'll snag the prize for you!
(Seriously!)
No comments:
Post a Comment