BUDAPEST, Hungary (Reuters) — A new smartwatch health monitor uses artificial intelligence (AI) to constantly analyze the health of its wearer and promises an early warning system for medical emergencies.
Called the MAP Health Watch, the device has five sensors continually measuring six vital parameters: ECG, pulse, skin temperature, heart rate, and blood oxygen level.
“There are clinical grade, highly accurate sensors involved in this watch, five of them determining vital signals and calculating other non-diagnostic parameters,” the Hungarian developer’s medical adviser, Dr Alexandra Pinter told Reuters. “This quantity of parameters and high accuracy is new. Plus we have attached such an analytic system to these that is licensed and custom designed for the analysis of these parameters.”
The team says the data is transferred to the system’s servers by phone where it is processed using rule-based and machine learning algorithm, diagnosing and identifying dangerous situations and identifying potential health risks as they arise.
“The longer the person wears this watch the longer the watch can adapt to its user, and then better alarm signals and fewer false alarms will be generated,” said Medical Engineer, Tom Horvath.
In addition to the computer processing, a team of specialist doctors will regularly analyse the collected data, depending on the level of subscription, and can intervene if necessary, even calling an ambulance.
“When an ECG stripe is registered then the doctor realizes that there has been infarction (heart attack), there are signs of an old infarction, and the patient is not aware of this. In case the patient would have worn this watch then the regular ECG measurement would have registered the early signs of an infarction and we could have helped this patient much earlier,” Pinter said.
If the system indicates the user is becoming unwell or they use the panic button function, the wearer will be personally contacted by a MAP Health Watcher medical staff through the in-built phone on the watch.
Five prototype watches are undergoing tests before mass production starts in China and medical teams will be set up in the US and Hungary.
The market for wearable health and fitness monitors has seen huge growth and fierce competition from big players like Fitbit, Apple and China’s Xiaomi Inc.
