Tricorder X-Prize

I love the X-prize.  Moon shots that often seem nearly impossible to do and then somehow someone ends up winning the prize and we see that commercial space flight is possible or that a car can go 100 miles on a gallon of gas.  The last x-prize was announced at CES in January of this year.

Now some might think that a machine that supplants doctors would make me nervous.  Not at all.  I look forward to the day when people are healthier because of technology and I feel that the Tricorder X-prize is a step in that direction.  It is a moon shot.  The device that is built will need to diagnose 13 core diseases.  Here is a a list of the diseases.

Anemia

UTI

Diabetes type-II

Atrial Fibrillation

Stroke

Sleep apnea

Tuberculosis

COPD

Pneumonia

Otitis

Leukocytosis

Hep A

Absence of condition

The machine must also track 5 vital signs constantly.

EKG

Blood Pressure

Respiratory Rate

Temperature

Oxygen Saturation

Lastly the machine will also diagnose at least 3 elective diseases from the following list.

Pertussis

Hypertension

Mono

Allergen (air)

hypo/hyper thyroid

Food-borne ill.

Shingles

Melenoma

Strep

Cholestrol screen

HIV screen

Osteoporosis

The tricorder is meant to be developed as a straight to consumer device so people will be able to diagnose themselves and only go to the doctor if something is off.

For a day or two I dreamed of entering the contest and with my limited technology connections tried to put a team together.  I was unsuccessful, but look forward to the leaps forward we are able to make in the next two years during the competition.