Scanadu, a company based at the NASA-Ames Research Centre, has developed a home diagnostic tool called SCOUT to study the vital signs that reflect your health condition. Just hold SCOUT to the temple. In less than ten seconds it reads more than five vital signs and transmits the information to a mobile application, which instantly calculates the pulse transit time, heart rate, electrical heart activity, temperature, heart rate variability and blood oxygenation. This information can be shared with a doctor, or stored and studied over time to figure out how healthy you are. At CES 2013, Scanadu also unveiled ScanaFlo that does urine-based tests, and ScanaFlu that detects upper respiratory tract infections using a saliva sample. These are also integrated with the mobile app. All three devices will be launched later this year, at a price less than US$ 150.
Inside: All three devices use body sensors, molecular diagnostics, imaging and sound analysis, data analytics and a suite of algorithms to study and offer a comprehensive, real-time picture of your health data. They fit the description of a ‘tricorder’. The software platform is extensible and can be opened up to input from other tracking and monitoring devices.
