The dreams of Star Trek fans and hypochondriacs around the world are coming true.
The dreams of Star Trek fans and hypochondriacs around the world are coming true.
No longer must people waste time in hospital waiting rooms and spend money on high medical bills. Soon we'll be able to conduct physical exams with a medical tricorder from the comfort of our homes.
Scanadu Scout is a scanner device with special sensors designed to read your vital signs and send the data to your smartphone.
The device is a hockey puck-shaped scanner that you place against your temple to measure your vital signs including temperature, heart rate, oxygen levels, blood pressure, respiratory rate and emotional stress.
All the collected data is then transferred to your Android or iOS smartphone via Bluetooth.
Almost every doctor's visit starts with a check of vital signs, but thanks to the Scanadu Scout you can easily track these on your smartphone and detect irregularities, which can be early signs of an illness or disease.
It also gives you the opportunity to understand your body better by learning how different people, places, activities or foods affect you.
Scanadu Scout was created by Scanadu Inc., a Singularity University start-up based at the Nasa Research Park in the United States.
The prototype came out almost a year ago but since then the company has taken another step forward to make the Star Trek tricorder a reality.
Scanadu Inc. launched a crowd-funding project on Indiegogo, a website where people fund their innovative projects.
Scanadu Scout broke all records and became the Indiegogo's highest-fetching crowd-funded project ever ending with $1 664 574 (over R16.5 million) in funding from 8 500 backers.
These backers will receive their Scanadu Scouts in March 2014.
However, before Scanadu Scout can be launched as a commercial medical device it'll have to be approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. If it succeeds, the Scouts will be commercially available in early 2015 for around R2 000.
So is this just to good to be true? The new medical tricorder has received mixed reactions from the public.
From enthusiastic Star Trek fans to record-breaking financial support on Indiegogo, it has also elicited disbelief and scepticism.
I personally love the idea of the Scanadu Scout as a finger on the pulse of my health.
The affordable price is nice, as is its simplicity in using and tracking data.
And finally, its practicality. Sparing you a few doctors' visits a year makes the Scout a desirable new device to add to any hi-tech enthusiast's collection.
Let's hope it won't let us down.
