Much of modern science fiction has to do with violence. Blaster rifles, lightsabers, and super human serums give an impression of a bleak world filled with nothing but warfare, but one of the world’s most enduring series presents us with an alternative. Star Trek, which has remained in the public eye for fifty years, prioritizes exploration and adventure over violence. Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock were incredibly influential throughout their adventures displaying models of impressive futuristic technologies, some of which have become realities today. Cell phones, video chatting, and tablet computers were all featured prominently throughout the series. One device however is still in development: the medical tricorder. A tricorder is a scanning device with three main functions: sensing, computing, and recording. Within the series, a medical tricorder is capable of non-invasively scanning and assessing the medical state of an individual. While still a fictional device, one can see how this would assist real world doctors and EMTs.
The XPRIZE foundation, a non-profit organization that holds competitions designed to advance scientific research, saw this and organized a contest based around the medical tricorder as a consumer and industry device. There are a few basic guidelines for the contest: the device must be able to scan five basic vital signs, sense ten compulsory health conditions, and sense three elective health conditions. Blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, and temperature make up the basic vital signs and must be scanned in real time. The health conditions range from anemia to HIV screening, and being able to sense for no existing health conditions is a must.
The competition began its registration in 2013, but opened up for re-qualification through August of this year. The qualifying round of the competition requires teams to showcase a demonstration of sensor validity and evaluations of studies supporting their sensor designs. The final round of completion is scheduled to being in September of this year and will include a diagnostic competition on twenty plus consumers per team, as well as a vital sign reading competition and more. As engineering students we know that there is no perfect answer (disregarding multiple choice exams) and to reflect this, the competition is prepared to award up to three winners.
So far there are seven teams from around the world that have qualified for the final round of competition. Four of the seven are based in the United States, with the other three hailing from Taiwan, India, and Canada. CloudDX is a thirteen person team out of Mississauga, Ontario and are led by McMaster University Assistant Professor Sonny Kohli. The team has won numerous awards for their research into biomedical wearables and won the Startup Canada Award for Innovation at the Startup Canada Awards in 2015. As well as competing in the Tricorder competition, they have pioneered cloud diagnostic services that are available for healthcare providers.
Although medical technology is an ever expanding field of research and new technologies are pioneered every day, we still have a long way to go.
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